


Boku no Hero Face

by viking3ggs



Category: Sally Face (Video Games), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alien Larry, Angst, BNHA Face, Background Relationships, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Crossover, Enemies to Friends, Friends to Lovers, Ghosts, High School, M/M, Pining, Recreational Drug Use, Slow Burn, Spirits
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-04-24 17:16:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19177840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viking3ggs/pseuds/viking3ggs
Summary: It's the second year for students at UA and everyone is bubbling with nervousness and anticipation. Since the year prior, students have been transferred in and out of the hero courses, Sal is a little overwhelmed by everyone's enthusiasm.-----"Sal hadn’t even realized he’d spaced off until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Izuku was standing there, trying to get his attention, along with a few of the other students. It startled him, really.“Gah! Sorry! Um, hey, I just wanted to let you know we’re supposed to be leaving.” Izuku smiled awkwardly at him and Sal stood up promptly once looking around in confusion. He wanted to apologize for causing them to lag behind, and was about to when Izuku raised his hands, “I-it’s alright! My friends and I were actually hoping to get to know you on the way…”"





	1. Welcome to Class 2-A

**Author's Note:**

> As this fic updates, so will the tags themselves! So keep an eye out for possible triggering content and such in the tags!! That is all <3

Being moved into the hero course was something to be celebrated for sure, and his parents were certainly proud of him. The blue-haired boy wasn’t the most talkative in his classes, nor was he the most friendly, and people appeared to be creeped out by him. His family wasn’t from Japan, probably the only other student in this school originally from the US besides the other three he knew of. He swallowed hard, the prosthetic on his face suddenly feeling heavy. Reluctantly pushed the door open to reveal the classroom full of second years, pushing down and flattening his skirt to make sure it wasn’t riding up on him. A few students looked up, a few excited to see a new face, and others not too pleased.

**Saleem Fisher**

_ Quirk- Seance: Fisher’s Quirk enables communication with spirits of any kind, as well as the ability to control some or allow them to possess his body. The spirit he most notably communicates with is his deceased mother, Diane Fisher. _

It was as though a switch was flipped suddenly because he was surrounded by students in an instant, attempting to introduce themselves. One with dark green hair, gave him a cheerful, excited smile.

“Hi! I’m Izuku Midoriya! What’s your Quirk? I heard you’re from America, another student joining the class is from there! You seem nice-”

“Midoriya, please don’t hound the new student, she doesn’t seem comfortable! She might need a little space!” A much taller boy with glasses had to gently pull Izuku back, and Izuku mumbled an apology. The boy with glasses turned to face Sal, holding out a hand, “I’m Tenya Iida and-”

“I looove your hair. It’s so very unkempt but stylish at the same time. The pigtails are adorable.” A blond gave Sal a smile and a pink girl with fluffy hair nodded in agreement.

A tired, gruff voice sounded behind Sal, “Everyone please find your seats.” A taller man with long dark hair, who he assumed was Mr. Aizawa, came walking past and to the desk at the front of the room. The students who had been bombarding him with questions and comments moved to their seats, leaving Sal at the front of the room. He stood awkwardly beside his instructor’s desk and waited awkwardly for the class to start. It seemed Mr. Aizawa was waiting for something.

The bell rang, and he sighed, “Well, it appears that the other student who’d been supposedly transferring to this class is not going to be coming.”

The door flung open and a boy with long, unkempt, dark hair stood in the door. His eyes were half-lidded and he had a big grin. “Heyyyy, what’s up? Sorry I’m late I uh…” He spaced out for a solid 10 seconds before speaking again, “Sorry I’m late, I had to do somethin’.” The boy walked over and stood next to Sal.

He could smell the marijuana on him. Was this kid high?

“Yes, yes. At least you made it. It wouldn’t be good to miss your first day in the hero course would it?”

The other kid shrugged and looked down at Sal then towards the rest of the class, giving a mini-salute with his hand and with that same grin he’d been holding. If it hadn’t been for the fact this guy reeked of weed, he would have thought the tooth gap in his mouth was adorable.

Sal thought long and hard for a moment about the few other American students that attended the school. Todd Morrison… He was a ginger kid though- and it couldn’t be Ashley because she was a girl and she was already in 2-B… 

**Lawrence Johnson**

_ Quirk- Lullaby: Johnson’s Quirk allows him to lull others to sleep with his voice. This effect is achieved when he smokes or consumes cannabis because of another chemical found within his alien body which mixes with another found in the cannabis. This mixture meets certain vibrations and frequencies in his vocal cords when he sings, exerting an unseeable vapor substance that renders others disoriented or unconscious for a period of time. _

That’s the guy. Sal wondered how it was even possible he was allowed to be within school limits when he was like this, even if it is required to use his Quirk. It was as if the school wasn’t even real and they didn’t care about what the students did so long as it didn’t harm anyone. Did he have some sort of government issued permission slip because his Quirk is actually useful or something?

Sal’s thoughts were broken into by that same gruff voice from before. “We have two new students joining us today. Saleem Fisher and Lawrence Johnson. Before you begin to bombard them once more, yes Fisher and Johnson are from America, yes Johnson’s Quirk does require the use of cannabis, no he will not be using the substance unless he’s been given explicit permission.”

Half of the class sank back in their seats in disappointment, while the rest continued to show a genuine interest in the new students in their class, especially the student in seat 18, Midoriya, who didn’t want to sit still.

Sal awkwardly signed to the class, not feeling comfortable with speaking just yet, ‘It is nice to meet you all.’ A few students appeared confused but most of them gave him a friendly smile.

“Call me Larry, please. Hope none of us end up having any beef.” Larry gave them all finger guns. 

“Alright now find your seats you two.” Mr. Aizawa grumbled, prompting both the new members of his class to sit down at the open seats in the back. Sal found his seat right behind a spiky-haired blond, and Larry sat behind the young invisible girl.

There was something about the way Larry carried himself that really threw Sal off. He seemed confident and fully aware of his surroundings, while also being very laid back and clueless at the same time.

He sort of hated it.

“As usual per every new school year, we will be re-evaluating your Quirks to see how far you’ve come along with your Quirks. See how much you’ve all improved. I’m sure it will be no problem for some of you, but for others, you may struggle a bit. Regardless, you should try very hard to impress me.” He then concluded, bringing up his clipboard.

Sal looked towards Larry, who continued to hold that same grin that he’s had since he walked into the classroom. How could someone smile that much? It was like how every time he saw anything to do with All Might he was smiling, but with Larry it was almost disturbing.

‘Pay no mind to him, Sally.’ He then felt something warm beside him and smiled at the faded appearance of his mother, ‘Remember to just keep to yourself, my little blue raspberry angel.’ He felt the warm press of her lips against his cheek, despite his prosthetic separating everything from his skin, and she faded once more to nothingness.

Sal hadn’t even realized he’d spaced off until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Izuku was standing there, trying to get his attention, along with a few of the other students. It startled him, really.

“Gah! Sorry! Um, hey, I just wanted to let you know we’re supposed to be leaving.” Izuku smiled awkwardly at him and Sal stood up promptly once looking around in confusion. He wanted to apologize for causing them to lag behind, and was about to when Izuku raised his hands, “I-it’s alright! My friends and I were actually hoping to get to know you on the way…”

Sal tilted his head in confusion at them all, then shrugged and nodded. That was okay with him, he supposed.

“Great! Well, um, follow us then. We’ll talk on the way to the locker room.”

Sal rubbed the back of his neck and started to follow them out of the classroom. They weren’t a huge friend group in  _ any _ sense, for sure. Just five of them, two girls and three boys- and they were friendly enough it seemed.

“So um. You’ve already met me and Iida.”

“I’m Ochaco Uraraka.” One of the girls said.

“Tsuyu Asui, but you should call me Tsu.”

“Shoto Todoroki. It’s a pleasure.” The remaining of the five said in a deadpan.

“So, do you talk or do you strictly use sign?” Tenya was the first of them to ask the question, “Because if you strictly use sign, I will be more than happy to translate for you to other students, and faculty members who do not understand it.” 

Sal looked up at the boy, replying silently with a smile under his mask, ‘I am a selective mute, and my father is partially deaf, so I spend a majority of the time signing. I get scared to talk in front of a lot of people as well. I just have to get used to everyone in class before I feel confident speaking out loud.’

Tenya smiled at that, clasping his hands together, “Great! I’ll be happy to translate for you then when need be if you would like that.”

Sal nodded. He really appreciated the hospitality he was showing.

“So is the mask hiding something?” Izuku asked, curiously.

Sal tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.

“N-not that there’s anything wrong with that! I’m just-”

“He’s very curious, is all. Don’t mind him.” Ochaco smiled at Sal.

“Yeah…”

‘Yes, it is hiding something. It’s a prosthetic. You don’t unlock my tragic backstory until friendship level three though, so you don’t get to see what’s under here.’

“What’d she say?” Tsu asked Iida, who said exactly what he had signed word-for-word.

“I’m not sure what you mean by that, but alright!” Ochaco said cheerfully.

Sal had to admit, the girl was adorable. He liked her already.

Their conversation was cut short by their arrival at the locker rooms. The walk hadn’t been that long when he had people to talk to along the way. The girls started to walk towards their locker room, separating from the boys who headed towards their own. Sal followed close behind the boys when one of them stopped, followed by the rest.

“Uh- Fisher, this isn’t your locker room.” Izuku said.

Sal gave them a dead look with his eyes. Right. Everyone in class thought he was a girl. He wore a girl’s uniform and everything. Of course, they would think that.

He looked back towards the girls, who were also giving him the same confused stares as the boys.

He then awkwardly signed to them, trying to hide his nervousness as he gestured, ‘Actually, I’m not a girl.’ He then reached in his pocket to search for his student ID, showing them it had him labeled as  _ “M” _ . He then went on, his ears turning red, ‘I just really like the girl’s uniform.’ 

“Oh… Oh! I see!” Tenya nodded, “I apologize, we had no idea. We were all under the impression you were a young lady.”

‘Common mistake.’ He then gave them all a much warmer look with his eyes, still embarrassed. He then quickly moved past the three boys and into the locker room. He already knew where everything was because he had his last class here too, but he was in a new class so it felt different. As if everything was off.

He made his way to his locker, which was located in a different area than the rest of the boys. He found himself standing not too far away from Larry, who was going through his gym locker already. He turned his head in confusion and looked at Sal. He gave the blue-haired boy that same stupid smile hed been holding earlier in the classroom.

“Huh… I knew you weren’t a girl.”

That comment really caught the Sal off guard. He opened his mouth, speaking instinctively without realizing it. Something about Larry just made him want to talk instead of act silent. Even if his voice was raspy from months of neglect he spoke out loud.

“I didn’t think a pothead like yourself could be so uh... perceptive.”

Larry chuckled as Sal walked past him to a locker at the far end of the aisle of lockers, twisting the dial as Larry continued. 

“You know, you don’t seem to be much like the other kids here. And I don’t mean the fact that you’re American like me.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, Johnson.”

_ “You’re an outcast.” _

There was a very long moment of silence as he stood frozen at his locker. Yeah, that was true. Sal had been an outcast since his accident in middle school, but how did Larry know that? The guy hadn’t even known him for less than an hour and he already read that from him.

“How would you know that?”

“Because I used to be one… Ya know, I think we went to the same middle school when we were younger.”

Sal doubted that. With a Quirk like his that requires the use of marijuana to activate it, he probably had loads of friends when it first showed up, especially if he agreed to smoke with them- which was likely true as well. Not to mention, Sal would have totally remembered a Quirk like his. Plus! The chances that he and Larry had gone to the same middle school were severely slim. The US is a big country after all.

Sal rolled his eyes, “Yeah, I sure bet you used to be an outcast,” Sal said in a painfully sarcastic tone.

Larry started humming to himself, ignoring the sarcasm in his voice as he pulled off his white over-shirt. Beneath it was what could only be described as an old dingy Sanity’s Fall band tee. Sal couldn’t tell if that thing was ever washed, “You’re one to talk.” He sing-songed, turning his head to look at Sal, who yawned, beginning to feel drowsy. “So, is it true your mother was a villain?”

The mention of his mother snapped Sal back to reality. He hadn’t even realized Larry was using his Quirk, “Don’t you use your Quirk on me you ass!” Sal pulled his gym uniform out and slammed his locker.

“What are you talking about?! I didn’t do anything!”

“Yeah you did! You just used it when you were talking to me just now! You started singing your words-”

“I can’t exactly turn it off. I’m baked as hell right now, do you really think I’m going to realize I’m doing that? It’s like- second nature at this point.” Larry’s shoulders sank and he pulled his tee off, grabbing his gym clothes and unzipping his pants.

Sal turned away and started to undress.

“You need to learn some sort of self control,” Sal mumbled as he rubbed at the nasty scars on his torso. “Can you like… also not stare? I can feel your eyes burning holes into my back.”

“Sorry…” Larry mumbled as he started to pull on his gym uniform. “Hey, you never answered my question. Was your mother-”

“Yes, she was.” Sal interrupted, mildly annoyed with his question. “Ghost was my mother. She wanted me to be better than her though, and more like my dad, so that’s why I’m becoming a hero. That’s why I tried so hard to be moved into this class...”

“I get that…” He was silent for a moment, before turning his head, “Sorry about what happened to her.”

All Sal did was slip on the uniform, zipping it up and not looking at him, “Yeah, I know. Everyone says that.”

“Your dad’s Quirk is pretty badass. I’m surprised you didn’t get something like his. I bet it’s a lot of pressure to live up to his legacy. Oh, cool mask by the way! Is there any reason why you wear it?”

“It’s a prosthetic. You have a lot of annoying questions, ya know. Really pushy, personal questions.”

“... Oh, sorry man. I swear I ain’t always like this.”

Sal didn’t turn to face Larry as he unbuckled his mask from his face and took his pigtails down, shaking his head so the curly mess fell evenly before putting the mask back on. “I’ll see you out there.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Sal turned back around and started to walk past him as he zipped up his gym uniform before quickly grabbing his wrist, “Hey uh...You’re more than welcome to come chill with me in my dorm room sometime, if you want.”

Sal didn’t turn his head to look at Larry, instead looking down at the hand wrapped around his wrist. “I’ll consider it, Johnson.”

Sal pulled his wrist away from Larry’s grasp and continued on his way towards the exit, passing through a crowd of surprised boys as he did. He stopped for a minute to look at all the stares he was getting from them.

“Hey, Fisher, this is the boy’s locker room, ya know.” The one with red hair raised an eyebrow at him.

Sal felt himself lose any courage he had left to speak out loud and instead just shrugged and walked through them the rest of the way through nonchalantly. He had such a calm and collected exterior around them but in reality he felt really awkward around these guys, especially in this setting. They were under the impression he was a girl, after all.

He walked out of the locker room and was immediately greeted with a few big-eyed girls, including Ochaco and Tsu.

“We’re so sorry, we all thought you were a girl, Fisher.” The invisible girl who sits in front of him seemed to reach out, and Sal reached out as well, taking her hand. She was sweet.

Maybe his move into the new class wouldn’t be so difficult on him with these people. They treated him like way less of an outcast than anyone ever had.

He felt welcome.

Well, that is until he felt something touching his ass. He let go of her hand and quickly whipped around to look at who or what it was. A very short boy with what appeared to be a dark purple mohawk made of balls was standing there with his hands grabbing onto his ass. He smiled nervously at Sal, laughing awkwardly.

Sal narrowed his eyes. He was gonna kill the little shit.


	2. Quirks in Action

Sal slumped into the lunch table, every inch of his body sore. The process he’d gone through for the re-evaluation had definitely left every inch of him bruised. His Quirk had never required much physical activity, but becoming a hero required it and it seemed the hero course had a much more intense re-evaluation than general studies.

Not to mention the little creep, Minoru Mineta, had groped him and he nearly beat the shit out of him for touching his ass. The purple stain was lucky Aizawa had showed up and stopped him from picking him up and throwing him at a wall.

“So, Fisher, isn’t your father Night Owl?”

He was dragged out of nearly falling unconscious by Izuku’s voice.

Sal brought his face up from the lunch table, his pigtails a total loose disaster, almost falling out. ‘That’s my dad alright.’ He brought his hands up to lazily sign to them. Thankfully Tenya sat next to Shoto across from him and Ochaco, and was translating for him so they knew what he said. ‘Everyone thinks it’s a lot of pressure to live up to his title as a hero, but it really isn’t.’

“His Quirk is really interesting. I’ve always been curious as to how it works. The Written Hero is one that I haven’t really looked much into just yet but he was gonna be next. I  _ blah blah blah _ -”

Sal spaced out while Izuku was talking, staring off at the brunet he’d talked to in the locker room. He was headed to a lunch table with a few other students at it, smiling and laughing all the while. Not all of them were from 2-A either. There was the loud blond sal sat behind in class, the red-haired one who had that hardening Quirk, and the pink girl- but there was also a brunette girl following him, as well as a ginger boy with glasses. As he sat down, he read Larry’s lips.

_ “Hey, I was wondering if you guys wanted to hang out in my room with me after classes tonight? Oh- right. Sorry Campbell, sorry Morrison. I forgot you two were in separate dormitory buildings from 2-A… I guess me, Kirishima, Bakugo, and Ashido can alone… Hey, do you think Kaminari or Jiro would wanna hang too? No? Ah, yeah you’re probably right. They’re probably busy.” _

“Hey, Fisher, are you okay? Helloooo?” He suddenly had a hand waving in front of his face and he turned his head to look at Ochaco, blinking in confusion.

“Sorry, I just… Todoroki asked you a question and wasn’t sure if you heard him” 

A question? Shit, he was more out of it than he’d thought.

“Moving into the hero course your second year means that when the time comes, you will likely be having to work with a class that is not ours for your provisional hero license exam. Were you aware of this?”

If Sal was being honest, he hadn’t thought of that at all, and now that Shoto had brought it up, he felt his stomach sink. His father had barely passed the provisional exam for his license, and Sal would have to face odds less than his own father’s.

He turned his head down to look at his un-touched food and shook his head. He hadn’t been aware before, but he was now. He reaches behind his head and unbuckles the bottom of his mask and they all lean forward curiously as he lifts it, but instead of pulling it off completely, he only lifts it so he can take a bite of his lunch.

They all sink back, Izuku’s disappointment visible on his face but not saying anything.

“I wish you luck when the time comes, then.” Shoto stood up as the rest of them nodded. 

Now that Sal had begun eating, he lost interest in the conversation and they all seemed to notice, so instead began talking amongst themselves while the blue-haired boy ate his meal. After all, he was the only one who hadn’t been eating and the lunch period was already nearly over.

* * *

Foundational Hero Studies seemed like it was gonna be a breeze on the outside, seeing as the former number one hero taught the class in a much more weakened form, but shit if that wasn’t  _ far _ from the truth

As soon as Sal stepped foot in what Mr. Yagi referred to as his “classroom” students were immediately paired up with one another for what was supposedly a run of pre-tests (it was essentially just a form of combat training) to see what their hero skills were like after the summer. They’d apparently done the activity on day two the previous school year, but it appeared All Might had other plans for this year.

Sal studied on his free-time with his father for this sort of thing so this would be easy for them. Although, there was an overall agreement among his classmates that Sal’s was probably one of the least-armored costumes of the class, which was unexpected to them. It was just a short black dress that was skin tight in some spots, which was accompanied by a pair of red fingerless glove-like sleeves, blue boots, and a sort-of utility belt that had stuff like sage and crystals on it. Everything seemed very thin material.

His mask was switched out for something that seemed to be a thinner material as well and a different design, for more airflow. The only significant difference between this mask and his other was the fact it doubled as a gas-mask. He didn’t entirely understand why his father had insisted this was all necessary. All Sal had really wanted was to wear a simple sundress and his tights, not an entire ensemble, and he could have easily kept everything in a messenger bag instead of on his belt, and his boots could have just stayed sneakers for all he cared. He liked a more casual approach.

His father knew best though, and he trusted his judgment as a pro.

Unfortunately for Sal, he was paired up with the guy he’d been starting to already hate-- the loud-mouthed, rude blond that Larry had been hanging out with during lunch. Katsuki Bakugo. He was already being pushy and he had barely said a word to sal.

When Larry had finally come out from changing, somehow he’d been wearing something that Sal had both expected and not expected. His clothes definitely had a punk-rock theme to them, and he wore the Sanity’s Fall band tee under a leather jacket with the sleeves torn off. He appeared to be he was just as much of a minimalist as Sal, but when the other students started to ask about his costume, he revealed that the inside of his sleeveless jacket had some sort of armor built into it along with other pockets to keep necessary gadgets for hero work. He had a few other cool stuff to mention but he didn’t really look or listen.

Sal hated how well prepared Larry was for being a complete pothead.

For the supposed first pre-test, it was a scenario where teams of two were pitted against each other. One was to play the villains, the other was to play the heroes, who were supposed to retrieve an item from the villains that was being protected. Katsuki and Sal were up against Larry and Izuku. Sal and him were playing the heroes, while Larry and Izuku were the villain team. This was great.

“Tch. This is the same stupid thing he did first year for us. Don’t you think this is stupid?” Katsuki growled.

Sal didn’t reply, just continued to walk forward. He’d never experienced this before so he had no opinion on it.

“Hey, stupid, I’m talking to you-”

Sal turned his head quickly to look behind him in annoyance, up at Katsuki who was following close behind. Sal’s eyes had a strong blue glow, which made the prosthetic on his face seem much creepier than it was. Katsuki took a step back and turned his head away.

“Ugh. I hate people like you.”

Sal couldn’t stop himself as he angrily blurted out, “The  _ fuck  _ is that supposed to mean, Bakugo?”

The blond seemed taken-aback, even a bit shocked, “H-hey- you aren’t a girl?”

“Why the hell would I be a girl if I used the guy’s locker room to change?”

“Well- I just-”

“I get it. I wear a skirt. I wear pigtails. Blah, blah, blah. So what?”

“Why do you wear a dress for your costume?!”

“Because it fits my aesthetic, you dunce! Why do you look like a walking hand grenade?”

He was left speechless for a moment before he muttered to himself about something and started walking again. Katsuki was one of the few people at this school to actually hear his voice aside from his old class and Larry.

Sal hated that.

“C’mon extra.”

“Don’t be an ass, Bakugo. I guarantee you’ll regret it.”

He ignored his warning, “What the hell even is your Quirk? I saw it in action out on the field during the evaluation today but almost none of us could figure out what it was… The only one who seemed to get it was  _ Deku  _ and his stupid friends, and they weren’t saying anything, just fawning over your stupid Quirk.”

Maybe if he talked, he would get him to shut up,“It’s called Séance.” Sal moved soundlessly behind him, “I can communicate with, control, manipulate, be possessed by… any sort of spirit I please.”

“That sounds like-”

“The notorious supernatural villain, Ghost’s Quirk.  _ I know _ . She was my mother.”

“Your mother was a villain, huh? That explains why they didn’t let you into the hero course last year. Probably thought you were going to turn traitor on them one day.” He snickered, then yelped and froze as Sal came up beside him.

“I told you. Don’t be an ass, Bakugo. You’ll regret it. My mother doesn’t tolerate others’ ignorance as well as I do.”Sal was staring at the two hands on Katsuki’s shoulders that were making him feel very cold and filling him with fear. “Mom, please let go.”

There was reluctance but the hands vanished and Katsuki began breathing heavily.

“What the hell was that for?!”

“I can control everything except my mother since she and I share a Quirk… I’m sorry but you just need to be a bit nicer to me or she may not listen next time. Trust me when I say I didn’t make her do that.”

“Yeah, right.” He muttered, shaking himself off despite having nothing on him, then continuing to stalk forward.

“You know, you have a lot of potential… For a prick.”

This time Katsuski didn’t reply.  _ Good _ . That’s how Sal preferred it.

As they made their way through the hallway, there was the sound of footsteps coming from not too far away, making them both turn to the direction of it. Down a dark cooridor came the soft sound of humming. The steps were unhurried and gentle on the ground, but loud from the soles of the boots of whoever was walking towards them.

Sal took a step back when his own glowing blue eyes met a shining golden yellow pair. 

“I knew you would show up at some point!” Katsuki took a step forward and readied himself for an attack but his eyes fluttered as the humming became a gentle song. Larry’s voice was mesmerizing as he got closer, but somehow Sal was unaffected by him. He would have wondered how if Katsuki didn’t suddenly collapse before he could fire a shot at Larry.

Larry’s voice and the look in his eyes were both filled with amusement,“Well, well, well.  _ Saleem Fisher _ , the only man left standing here. I’m curious, how did you not pass out this time, but almost fall asleep in the locker room earlier?” How the fuck could he remember that? 

Larry emerged from the dark with his head tilted to the side slightly. A forked tongue flicked out of his mouth and when it did, he could see Larry’s sharp fangs that came with it. Sal felt heat rising from his chest to his ears. The smug bastard had a big smile on his face. It was somehow adorable when paired with the new information that he had a forked tongue. No- wait, stop that. Don’t think that.

_ Damn it Sal, get yourself together. You barely know this guy, you already started to hate him earlier, he made a shitty impression on you, he’s annoying, he asks too many questions. _

Sal raised his hand and felt  _ something _ rush past him at Larry, which the young man managed to dodge. Sal took another step back away from him, eyes growing wide. “Wha…?” For someone so high his reflexes were phenomenal.

“Man you got a cool quirk. I dunno what that was, but I saw it coming. You should work on your surprises better… And you should totally tell me more about it later man. I’d love to hang out some time to just listen to your adorable voice.” Sal started to turn red under his prosthetic, shaking his head. This guy was charismatic as hell. He really,  _ really _ , hated that.

He clenched his fists, eyes narrowing as he focuses on Larry properly. Larry’s eyes were calm, but overjoyed. They were completely bloodshot and spaced out, so the fact he somehow could focus on moving so quickly from Sal’s attack was insane.

Sal brought both of his hands up, pushed forward, and brought them to himself quickly. That one Larry wasn’t expecting. Larry was tripped and flung against a wall.

“Ah-  _ son of a bitch _ .” He groaned, pushing himself back to his feet and looking up towards Sal. “Oh, this will be fun. I’m more of a lover, though, not a fighter… So I’m sorry if I hurt ya, doll. I’ll try to go easy on you.”

Larry ran forward unexpectedly, seeming to get ready to punch him. Sal braced himself for the impact with a spirit to cushion the blow when he suddenly had his feet swept out from under him by Larry’s leg.

Things seemed to move in slow motion as he fell back, before he was suddenly caught by Larry’s other hand before his skirt flew up. Then Larry suddenly had him pinned against the wall and reached for his prosthetic, “I wonder if it’s this mask preventing you from sleeping. I bet it has some sort of preventative features that block my quirk from getting to you.”

Sal glared at him and slammed his foot down on top of Larry’s, making him yelp and jump back before he was suddenly yanked away from Sal by a particularly strong spirit.

“You’ll be stuck there for a while. Megan tends to become a bit of a nasty poltergeist when she sees I don’t have the advantage. Oh, and good luck reaching your com with your hand- she probably won’t let you move even your arms so… No communication with your partner in crime.” Sal grinned under his mask at the sight of Larry pinned on the wall in front of him. He looked down at Katsuki, then back up at Larry. He was tempted to carry the blond jerk but he had no idea how long Larry’s quirk lasted, so he decided not to and quickly turned. Sal started to run off in the direction of where Izuku would likely be. Larry was a breeze, but Izuku would be a challenge for him. 

Sal had to come up with some sort of strategy for when he made it to his new friend. Izuku was intelligent from what he’d already seen, but some of his tactics and parts of his fighting style needed a little improvement from what he’d said. Of course, seeing as he looks up to the retired Symbol of Peace, that could mean anything from horseshit awful to borderline professional. He’d seen bits and pieces when he trained outside the previous school year, so he knew he wasn’t awful.

Izuku knew what he was doing when he fought. Or at least, he partially did.

What Larry said about him needing to work on his element of surprise was absolutely right as well… Maybe he could attempt that with him. Maybe if he just…

He found himself in the open room where Izuku was waiting by a fake bomb-rocket-thing that Sal was much too disinterested in to really think too much on the appearance of. For now, he had to get around Izuku and touch it to capture it.

The green haired boy stood defensively in front of his target. He would be guarding it with his everything for this.

Izuku would know how his quirk works. It’s way too similar to his mother’s than anything, so he would need to be tactical and careful. Sal looked around, bringing his hands to his face, and pressing them together, before balling them to fists. He focused on letting one in, taking in a deep breath.

He felt overcome by something and he was no longer fully in control. His eyes focused on the subject he was to capture and started to move forward. Izuku ran for him to kick his feet from under him and Sal’s body gracefully moved over his leg without even thinking to, grabbing his wrist and swinging around with him. It caught Izuku off guard and Sal’s other hand grabbed his other wrist and yanked both his hands to be behind his back. While Sal was skilled in hand-to-hand, the one who was doing this was not him. Whatever being he’d let in his body was focused on defense, while Sal was focused on his objective. Capture his target.

Izuku managed to suddenly slip away and throw a punch at Sal, who took the blow and fell back in surprise. He was lucky it didn’t hit his prosthetic. Sal adjusted his mask to make sure it wasn’t falling off and swept his hand quickly across Izuku in a horizontal motion, causing him to be flung off to the side. Izuku landed just fine on the ground, not pinned for some reason. 

It didn’t matter, what mattered is that it had given him a short timeframe to run towards the bomb. He could already feel the spirit in him leaving his body as he approached it when he was suddenly tackled to the ground on his way to it.

“I won’t let you!”

Sal managed to slip from Izuku’s grasp, positioning his feet quickly and getting into a guarded, defensive stance, hands at the ready to fight.

“I’ll tell ya what. If you turn around and leave the room I’ll-”

Before he could finish, Izuku had his feet swept out from under him and Sal was given another opening to run to the bomb. Sal barely had enough time to touch it as the timer hit the 5-second mark.

_ Success! _


	3. Dorms and Loud Music

When Foundational Hero Studies had ended and Katsuki had finally woken up, he yelled at Larry until the end of class, but the bastard seemed completely unfazed by the way he was being treated. He even  _ smiled _ at Katsuki when he finally shut up, and Larry offered him a cookie that had been keeping in his pocket. Larry was a nutjob for being that guy’s friend and Sal refused to believe otherwise.

“I can’t believe I got to see your quirk in action like that!” Izuku could barely hold his excitement after classes were over for the day and they were hanging out in the common area in the dormitory. Just Sal, Izuku, Tenya, and Ochaco, who all sat on the floor. Shoto didn’t seem to be all too interested and Tsu had been too tired and just wanted sleep.

“By the way, Fisher, I don’t think I ever saw you participate in the Sports Festival our previous school year.” Tenya said.

That grabbed Sal’s attention. He never really brought it up, but he had transferred to UA from his own school back in America when his father decided to move back to Japan, and it had been sometime after the festival had occurred.

He swallowed. He felt like he was comfortable enough around these people that he could talk. None of them had pissed him off to the point of talking or gave him any vibes that he should before, but now was probably a good time to start talking out loud. 

Tenya looked ready to start translating as Sal raised his hands, but instead of signing he pulled down his pigtails and said, “I only came into the school a week after the festival, so of course you didn’t see me participate.”

The three of them looked surprised to hear him talk, and Ochaco put a hand on her chin thoughtfully, “I thought your voice would be higher. It’s a little deeper than I expected…” She mumbled.

Sal felt butterflies in his stomach and he looked down nervously, laughing a little, “Ah- thanks?” His ears grew hot and he felt embarrassed. 

The others nodded in agreement but smiled at him.

He felt his nervousness bubble down and he rubbed the back of his neck, “I participated in my own sort-of-sports-festival back in America. The hero school I had gone to was known to be fairly competitive, and I was one of the top of my class. Of course, the school I’d gone to combined all the classes that they normally teach separately here…”

“Wait, really?” Izuku blinked at that, confused and curious, “Can you share more? Please? I’d love to hear. I’ve never really looked into any hero schools outside of Japan.”

“Me too! That sounds weird!” Ochaco bounced slightly.

“I would like to hear about it as well.” Tenya nodded, looking between his friends.

Sal looked at the three of them then sighed, leaning back slightly, “Alright. Well, first off, the city I lived in was pretty weird as it was. It was the Nockfell Academy for Gifted Quirks in Nockfell, Oregon. The school is probably one of the hardest in the state to get into, and the fact it was in my own town was great. In that town, it’s known to have quite a few um… Supernatural attractions and happens to be a goldmine for people looking to do dumb ghost hunting stuff, play with ouija boards, all sorts of stuff, and because of the fact that my Quirk is so oriented towards the supernatural side of things, I passed the entry exam with flying colors. Other students didn’t nearly have as much luck, especially if your Quirk was anything like Larry Johnson’s. If he’d applied for that school, he would have been denied because they would have found his Quirk to be inappropriate and there’s no way the federal government would have associated themselves with a pothead, regardless of the legality of it.” He scratched his head, “My studies there were pretty tedious. I didn’t need most of the classes they insisted on putting me in, but I suppose it had been a good idea when the school finally hosted the first Spirit Week of the year in January…”

The three of them were listening attentively, curious to know more about Sal’s school.

“What’s spirit week? Does it have to do with ghosts and stuff like your quirk?” Izuku asked.

“Partially, I guess it did…” Sal tapped his fingers on his thigh, thinking back on the previous school year. “It’s mostly to compete with the other grades- er… class years and show your school spirit. Show how proud to be a NAGQ student. To show the rest of the country your potential. It was a pretty stressful week, for everyone in my class, but especially for me, considering everyone saw me as a sort of freak-”

“What?! Why?! Your quirk is awesome and you’re so nice!” Izuku interrupted, eyes wide as he leaned in toward him, “Your father is awesome and you’re really cool.”

“You’re forgetting the fact that my mother  _ wasn’t _ cool. And that my dad is well known in Japan, not America, and the fact my dad married and had a child with a known villain, and that I have to wear  _ this _ .” Sal patted the prosthetic mask on his face, “They saw me as less than them because they thought I was hiding my identity from them. They thought I was ashamed of who I was related to, and at the time, they were kind of right… Which is why I decided to force myself to perform at the top of my class for the first spirit week of my freshman year.”

“What was spirit week like?” Ochaco leaned into her hands, watching Sal as he spoke.

“Grueling but worth it…” He smiled under his mask, before going on to tell the events of the week.

* * *

_ Monday, the Fourth of January, the day’s event was called “Deploy and Destroy”. _

Every student had to team up with one other student each. I was teamed with the guy who bullied me all throughout middle school, Travis Phelps. Some blond jerk with too much religion shoved down his throat growing up. I remember one year in middle school where he got his ass kicked by someone for punching me. He was loud, obnoxious, and really fucking bossy. I could barely stand to be around him.

I had to work with him the entire spirit week, and it was god awful, I tell you.

Monday’s event essentially was a crisis simulation. The school set up individual sites around the city that had supposed “dangerous threats”, and we were all assigned numbers. We had to find the threat with our number, and if our threat or someone else’s captured us, it was a failure for the pair and we were disqualified. That didn’t happen to me and Travis though.

My Quirk came in handy, as for Travis’s… His Quirk was called ‘Matchmaker’. Really, all his Quirk could be used for was to make people fall in love. His Quirk might have improved a bit and he might have found something special since then outside of that, but at that time his Quirk was useless to me and he relied on technology that was provided by his parents.

The tech may have been advanced and high quality, but I hated it so much. It interfered with my own quirk occasionally. We were lucky we made it through  _ Deploy and Destroy _ . Our target had nearly thrown us both in a can when we had to battle them… Lemme tell ya, having government volunteer heroes as villains was a big challenge for us. 

Once we “terminated” the threat, we headed back to the school to see where we’d landed for the first day.

Surprise, surprise, we’d landed at the number 10 spot for finishing… 

* * *

Sal’s story was interrupted by a disgruntled noise from not too far away. The four students turned their heads to look towards who was getting their attention and Sal smiled sheepishly when he realized it was their homeroom teacher.

“Ah- hello, Mr. Aizawa.” Ochaco said softly,

“It’s curfew now, you four. Please head to your rooms for the night. You do not have to sleep, but you all do have to be inside your rooms.”

Izuku pouted then looked at Sal, who rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. He nodded, “Yessir…” He whispered, pushing himself to his feet and giving his new friends a kind look with his eyes before heading off towards his dorm room.

The walk down the hallways felt long, and the ride up the elevator sucked. Be thought it worth it though because now he could go lay down in his bed comfortably. He walked along, all the way to the last door in the cooridor and unlocking it, pushing it open. He smiled at how dark it was inside. Grey walls, cool band and game posters, his comfy floor-mattress, the massive reptile enclosure by the dresser- the glass door of which was wide open and a very large lizard lay sunbathing under the heat lamp just inside. Sal had to smile. His room felt like a home away from home…

He stretched and unbuckled his prosthetic, taking it over to the vanity table and pulling a drawer open to retrieve the disinfectant. He began to studiously clean the inside of his mask with a gentle hum to the tune of a song by the Offspring, tapping his foot. Once the inside of his prosthetic was cleaned he hung it up above the mirror and put the disinfectant away. 

Sal looked in the mirror at himself, hands slowly grazing over the scar tissue that covered his face. He couldn’t feel, see, or hear his mother at that moment but he knew he hated seeing his face like this. It was one of the many reasons he continued to wear his mask despite insistence that he was truly fine to everyone else.

He stared longingly at his split lip and half-widened smile, the two scars that ran over his left eye and blinded him. His half-nose and the milky white pupil of his blind eye, the scar that ran over the bridge of his nose and cheek. The spots that once were covered in freckles were now bumpy and freckle-less. Had he not lived this way since he was small, he would have been startled by the reflection he saw. He certainly flinched when he first looked at himself…

Sal closed his eyes and hung his head slightly. He hated this. He couldn’t look at himself anymore for the night.

He pushed away from the vanity and stretched with a sigh, popping his back a bit when he did. He yawned and smiled over at his reptile, which lay sleeping comfortably in the terrarium still. “Nighty night, Gizmo.”

He undressed then slipped into a comfortable unicorn kigurumi and huddled up inside it. It was a cozy thing. His dad had bought it for him the day prior. He was really thankful for it. It was almost a comfort to be able to wear it.

Sal slumped over to his bed, falling into it and burying his face in the pillow beneath him. It seemed that as soon as he had relaxed in bed, the loud music he hadn’t noticed before seemed to suddenly spike in volume. Sal sat up like lightning, every inch of him aching and angry.

It was Larry’s room. 

He quickly pushed himself out of his bed, and started banging on the wall, “HEY! JOHNSON! TURN THE FUCKING MUSIC DOWN!”

Nothing.

Sal growled and stomped over to his vanity, grabbing his mask, and clipping it quickly before turning on his heel and rushing out of the room. He turned and began banging on Larry’s door. “Hey Johnson! Open the fucking door!”

The music turned down ever so slightly and the doorknob jiggled for a solid minute. When it finally turned and was pulled open, smoke practically poured out of the dorm room. Sal nearly gagged he inhaled so much. He waved the smoke from in front of his face, coughing as he looked up at Larry.

“Oh hey, ‘sup Saaally.” He leaned against the doorframe, grinning down at Sal with bloodshot eyes.

“Johnson, you need to turn your music down.  _ Some  _ of us are trying… to… get some… sleep?” he looked past Larry into the dorm room he stayed in. It was covered from floor to ceiling in music posters, finished and unfinished art, and band memorabilia. His bed was a metal framed bunk, and at the far end of the room he had an electric guitar up on a stand on his dresser.

It was a limited edition cherry red, and it had multiple signatures on it- all from members of Sanity’s Fall. He could tell, even from this distance.

Sal stared off at it, not even realizing Larry’s room had a Katsuki and a couple of his friends occupying it. He blinked at the guitar then whispered, “Is that what I think it is?”

“You mean my cherry electric? Yeah… You wanna touch it?”

Sal nodded quietly, feeling a bit weird to just be walking into his room when he had guests- although it was clear everyone in this room was baked so it wasn’t like it mattered. Larry stepped aside awkwardly and let Sal into his room before leading the blue-haired boy to the guitar. Katsuki attempted to trip Sal, and Sal glared down at him on the way.

Larry pulled the guitar off of the stand and strummed the strings before putting it in Sal’s arms, steadying it on him with the strap. Sal began plucking at the strings, grinning.

“That looks good on you Saleem.”

He was pulled out of his deep intrigue and awe in the guitar and he looked up at Larry sheepishly. “Oh, um thanks Johns-...” He stopped himself reconsidering before saying quietly, “Larry. Just call me Sal.”

Larry gave him a big dopey grin and Sal turned his attention down to the guitar once more as he began to strum it. Even without it being connected to anything, it sounded amazing- and it was perfectly tuned.

“How much was this thing? Where did you even get it?”

“I dunno, my old man bought it for me.” Larry shrugged and pulled a joint out of his pocket, lighting it as he took a long, deep drag off of it and blowing the smoke out and making a ring.

“It’s really well tuned. I guess you mess with it often, huh?”

“I’m not all too great, but it’s pretty relaxing. I fancy myself a musician.”

“Well it’s a beautiful guitar, I’ll give ya that… I haven’t held something this cool since middle school when I was in the music class...”

“Oh! You should play us something Fisher!” a voice squeaked.

Sal nearly jumped out of his skin and turned to see Mina was practically bouncing on a beanbag. He’d totally forgotten there were other people in the room, so the realization they’d all been listening to him talk made him shrink slightly. He swallowed a lump in his throat and laughed nervously. “I-I mean… If Johnson is okay with that, I suppose I could…” His voice trailed off and he looked up at the brunet, who nodded.

“Go ahead. Ya want me to turn the music off completely for you to play?”

“Oh, no, it’s quiet enough to not be a distraction… Besides, I’ll only play two or three songs…” He said softly, tapping his fingers against the red paint of the guitar.

The two of them made their way back over to the other three. Sal sat down comfortably on his floor and Larry sat right beside him as he began to strum the strings. It was nothing special, just a song he’d heard recently on the radio. Larry nodded his head and hummed along to it, as well as Mina.

Two or three songs turned into six and Larry was belting the lyrics so off-key that it didn’t activate his Quirk, and Sal even seemed to be enjoying himself. He was hanging out with Larry-fucking-Johnson, the guy who really rubbed him the wrong way when they’d first talked, and Katsuki Bakugo, the shithead who essentially insulted him for having a villain mother, and yet… He was having fun.

He could feel something bubbling inside of him as he watched Larry sing and drape himself over the other three. He was smiling, laughing, and…

Sal felt at peace. Something he hadn’t felt in a very, very long while. All his worries about his past, about his voice and appearance, about who he associated with and became friends with… All that slowly melted away to something much more positive.

When he saw Larry pull away from the others and scoot over to him, he took one more long drag off his blunt and offered it to Sal with a big grin, blowing the smoke out of his nose. 

“Here, loosen up, have a hit.”

Sal blinked and looked at the marijuana in his hands, back up at Larry, then reached behind his head to unbuckle the bottom of his mask. He turned his head back down to the guitar and continued playing over the sound of the others loudly talking and laughing, “If you want me to take a hit, you’ll have to put it in my mouth yourself.”

Larry shrugged and lifted Sal’s mask slightly. He put the joint between his lips, and Sal felt his fingers brush over his lips briefly. He felt himself start to blush as he took a long drag off the blunt. He pulled his head away and started to cough slightly, blowing the smoke out. Holy shit.

“Lemme try again-”

“Dude that was a pretty big hit.”

“I  _ said: let me try again. _ ” Sal started strumming the guitar again as his now slightly sore throat seemed to numb. Larry reluctantly lifted his mask once more and Sal grabbed his wrist, forcing him to put the blunt between his lips again. He took another big hit off the joint and held back his coughs this time as he let go of Larry’s wrist. His mask fell in front of his face and he held his breath for a good few seconds before he finally let the smoke escape his lungs.

It came out from all the openings in his mask, mostly the eye holes, and Larry seemed to watch in awe.

“Dude, that looks badass.”

Sal swallowed, his throat feeling dry. Was it getting hot in there?

“Heh, thanks.” he started to space out as he played music, having totally forgotten the original reason as to why he’d come knocking on Larry’s door in the first place. He barely heard Larry singing along to the music almost perfectly. He didn’t notice until Larry’s voice was gone and he stood up.

“Oh  _ shit _ .”

Sal turned his head up quickly to look at Larry. His eyes lazily drifted towards where the brunet was staring.

“Shit, shit, shit,  _ shit. _ Mr. Aizawa is gonna  _ kill me _ .”

All three of his friends were unconscious.

Larry knelt down beside each of them, “Aw man-” Larry sounded like he was going to start crying, “What if he expels me for this? Fuck.”

“Larry, it’s alright, hey-” Sal pushed himself up from where he was sitting, stumbling due to being disoriented by his quirk as he walked over. “-I’ll help you carry their sorry asses back to their rooms.” He patted his back, nearly falling forward, but Larry caught him with lightning reflexes.

“Shit, are you okay?”

“Yeah.” Sal mumbled, rubbing his eye with one of his hands through the eyehole of his mask.

“So… You mean it? You’ll help me out?”

“Of course, I’m not a total asshole.” Sal gave him a lopsided smile. Of course, Larry couldn’t see the smile because of his prosthetic, but he smiled at him regardless.

“Thanks…”

“But later, I wanna keep playing this. It’s crazy cool.” He looked at the guitar that was still attatched to him from the strap and Larry snorted, a grin on his face.

“I mean if you insist dude.”

Sal sank down onto the floor exactly where he’d been standing and started strumming the guitar once more, humming quietly. Larry sat down right in front of him, criss-cross-applesauce style, and watched Sal.

Every now and then he would feel something making his head drift upwards to look at Larry’s features. He was a handsome guy, and he had a beauty mark on his cheek. A long, pointed nose, and a doofy smile that made Sal’s chest all warm and bubbly. He looked so familiar, but at the same time he didn’t recognize him.

About the fourth or fifth time he looked up at Larry, he realized what it was.

His eyes. Larry’s fucking eyes. He knew those eyes, regardless of how fucking bloodshot and high they were. He never realized how amazing and bright they were until now. A brilliant golden yellow with pupils that were a lighter tint of yellow. They were so warm, gentle, relaxed. They were like two little radiant citrines… Those were the eyes of the guy who punched a kid for him in middle school.

Sal felt a lump in his throat and he coughed, looking back down at the guitar in his arms as he strummed a few more chords before ending the song. He pulled the guitar off his shoulders and passed it over to Larry, not looking at him anymore, “Here. You should put this back on the stand, I’ll start helping with these three.”

“Oh, um. Alright.” Larry stood up, followed by Sal. The blue haired boy stretched slightly, closing his eyes tightly then blinking a few times before reaching for Mina. She seemed like she was the lightest of the bunch.

Sal hoisted her up a bit and startled slightly when he heard Larry speaking behind him.

“Can you handle carrying her on your own?”

“Uh, yeah. It shouldn’t be too hard.” He held her up and against himself. He couldn’t pick her up entirely, but he could kinda drag her without her being completely on the floor.

Larry took it upon himself to sling both Eijiro and Katsuki over his shoulders, heading to the door.

Sal walked over with Mina against him. He opened the door for Larry, letting him out before following him down the cooridor.

* * *

He’d helped Larry get them all to their appropriate rooms, narrowly avoiding a very frustrated and very tired Shouta Aizawa- who came out of his room just as they left down the elevator.

The walk felt long and awkward for Sal, and he knew he reeked of marijuana after spending a good couple hours with Larry. He yawned and stretched as they got closer to their rooms and stared down at his feet as he walked along with him. Larry was humming something as they did and it was almost relaxing.

“Hey um… Thanks for hanging out tonight. I know you originally came to yell at me for being so loud, but…”

“It’s not a problem. Just try and be quieter at night? It’s the first day and the intensity of classes increases in 4 hours for school.”

“Oh, right. I kinda forgot we were in a school setting.”

Sal sighed, “It’s not a big deal. Just do better next time.” He was standing in front of his door, still staring down at his feet.

“Sure thing.”

He heard Larry open his door, walk in, and close it and he looked over at it. He felt all hot and messy. What the fuck was up with this guy? Why was he so nice? Like, yeah, he’s a stoner, but… This guy made him feel some sort of genuine positive emotion that he hadn’t felt in a long while… Friendship?

Yeah. That was it. Larry was a nice guy. He was friendly. He treated him like an equal. They’d make great friends.

He opened his door slowly with a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck as he turned to look inside his dorm room. It was a fucking disaster- and all of his dresser drawers were flung open. It looked like a certain little purple stain had been in there, saw Gizmo, panicked, and left behind some balls to clean up. Oh, he was going to give it to him tomorrow when nobody was looking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I suck at naming chapters lmao. Alright, now that you've made it through chapter 3, the fic is gonna be a lot differently paced after this. these first three chapters were a set up to get to better know our focus of the story, Sal. I also would like to really thank everyone for coming here from tiktok and everyone who's decided to start cosplaying from this fic on there. I can't wait to see what all of you wonderful cosplayers do!! Please keep up the great work and make sure to tag it as #bnhaface so that when I go into the tag on there to look at all you lovely people!! <3


	4. Unseen Affection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, fair warning, for the next few chapters this will have Sal x Toru content for plot-related reasons! This is still very much a Sal x Larry fic though! Remember, it's slow burn <3

Time passed quickly for the first few weeks of class and Sal worked diligently with his new-found friends. He was a tad more advanced than the rest of his class, and helped his friends and classmates all study and keep up with quizzes and such of the like. He even got used to speaking to most everyone in class- the only one he refused to speak with being Minoru. The little creep didn’t deserve his time or energy.

He flopped between two friend groups as well, and was even on a first name basis with most of them. He hung out Izuku and his group of friends on a regular basis, of course, but he spent a majority of his time with the other three American students who attended UA.

Larry was one of them, of course, and he was cool and all. He was obnoxious and asked a lot of questions, but Sal thought that was kind of endearing. After that first night in the dorms though, he couldn’t look at him the same. He couldn’t look Larry in the eye. All he could think of was that stupid crush he developed on the tall, scrawny middle school art student who punched Travis for him. He didn’t want to acknowledge that he recognized him from his middle school years, he didn’t want to act like he knew Larry.

At the same time though, Larry had recognized him back on day one in the locker room. 

_ “I think we went to the same middle school when we were younger.” _

The statement burned in the back of Sal’s head whenever he even glanced at Larry. It was stupid…

“Heyooo, earth to Saleem Fisher! Is anyone in there? Hellooooo.” 

An invisible sleeved arm waved in front of his face and Sal was dragged out of his deep thought as he quickly looked up, totally having forgotten he was in the common area of the dormitory. If he weren't wearing his mask, he would have been giving her a sheepish smile and blushing bright red. “Ah, I’m sorry Toru. I was distracted.”

She giggled, seeming to cover her mouth with her hands, “It’s alright! I just wanted to make sure you were okay and check to see if this was correct.” She then picked up a paper and passed it over to him to read over for her.

He tapped his finger on the table lightly as he hummed, proof-reading her history homework. “You got number 6 incorrect.” He passed it back over, “Ms. Glory was the pro who swam to the depths of the Mariana Trench to recover the submarine that lost contact with their base, not the one who established total peace between Germany and France. You’re thinking of Ms. Gloss.” 

“Oh, oops. My bad.”

“It’s alright. People mix them up all the time since they were sisters.” He assured her placing a hand on her arm gently as she started to write.

Toru and him had become fairly close during his time in 2-A. She was always around to make sure he was alright and checked in on him after training. She treated him as though she had known him forever and was his best friend.

Sal had the biggest crush on her at this point, and it had started on day one. It was almost painful how sweet she was. His friends could tell he had a crush too, and it was difficult to hide. His friends teased him about how clumsy he got around her, especially Larry, but his teasing was mostly half-hearted.

“Hey, Toru, I’ve been um… Meaning to ask you something.”

“Yes, Sal?” she asked softly.

His heart soared and he cleared his throat nervously, rubbing the back of his neck, “I was um… Wondering if um… You’d like to go out sometime?”

Sal couldn’t see her facial expressions, but judging by the gasp and squeal, then her flinging herself into his arms, he made the right decision to make the first move.

“I thought you’d never ask! I would love to go out with you! Where, when, and what kind of outfit should I wear?”

Sal laughed, “Um, well… I was thinking maybe tonight at 6 in a few hours? Nowhere too special, maybe out in the courtyard-”

“Got it!” She planted a kiss on the cheek of his mask, jumped up, grabbed her belongings and ran off giggling. Sal stared after Toru, blinking in astonishment. He  _ cannot _ believe how well that just went.

He let out a long, deep sigh, sinking in his seat. He’s so glad that didn’t go south. He was about to start relaxing when he heard a wolf whistle, followed by a “Nice, Sal!”

He startled slightly and turned his head quickly to see a short-haired brunet waving as she walked over. Unlike other students, she didn’t wear the regular white button-up and tie under her blazer

**Ashley Campbell**

_ Quirk- Image Imprisonment: Campbell’s Quirk allows her to trap anyone in photograph or video format for a short amount of time. The drawback of this is that if she were to use her nume=Quirk too many times, she will get severe migraines. _

“A-Ash! How- wha… How did you get into our dormitory?!”

“The cute pink one let me in.”

“She has a name you know.” He rolled his eyes.

“Oh, I’m fully aware. I just like describing girls I like.” She sauntered over and popped a squat right next to Sal, “Sooo. You and Toru huh? That was really cute.”

“Whatever…” He mumbled, his tone shy.

“Hey, nothin’ to be embarrassed about, Sal. You just landed a super cute girl… Well, cute personality wise. We can’t exactly see her face-”

Sal shook his head. “I don’t care about faces, Ash. Just personality. She’s been nice to me since day one in class.”

“I know. You never shut up about her.”

“Yeah.”

“Just like how you never shut up about Larry.”

He felt his face turning red again. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?!”

“Nothing, just…” She shrugged, grinning at him, “I’ve seen the way you’ve looked at him. You avoid eye contact as much as possible.”

“Yeah, so? What of it?”

“You don’t do that with anyone else.”

“Tch, whatever…”

“And I would say you do it with everyone you like, but it’s hard to tell with Toru. You can’t exactly see her face.”

“Shut uuuup oh my god, Ash. It’s nothing like that!” He snapped, going to stand up.

Ash grabbed his hand and forced him to sit back down, giving him a hard look. “Don’t start, Fisher. I can read you like a book. I can tell when something is up.” 

Sal gave her an irritated look, about to say something when he heard someone else walking over, “Hey- Sal, do you have a minute?” Izuku.

He turned his head to look at him, seeing he was being followed by Ochaco and Tenya. He looked back at Ash, yanked his wrist away, and stood up. “Sorry. I have to go. Why don’t you go talk to Larry? I’m sure he’s bored.” He turned away from her finally and gave his full undivided attention to his other friends, “Yeah, I got some time.” He gathered his things and walked over to them, following the three of them to another area of the dormitory. Once they made it around a corner, Izuku reached in his pocket and pulled out his phone, holding it up for Sal to look at.

It was a news article.

_ Pro-Hero, Night Owl, returns from skirmish with violent super villains completely deaf. Possibility of recovery of his hearing is slim to none, but he says that it will not hinder his ability to continue his work as Japan’s number 15 Pro. _

Sal can feel tears welling up in his eyes as he snatches the phone from Izuku. “What the  _ fuck _ dad?” He reads into the article more.

_ The villains were reprimanded after being graced with the appearance of number 1, Endeavor, showed up to end the battle. They were escorted to- _

Sal shook his head and skipped over everything that didn’t talk about his father. He wanted to know what the hell he was thinking? What the hell was his dad thinking? In summary, it explained the gruesome details of how his father had been critically damaged by the villains and had multiple wounds he would not fully recover from… And all of this had happened just two days ago, and Sal had no fucking idea. At the end of the article, it touched base on one last thing.

_ Night Owl is to go on short trips around Japan as a form of vacation as he recovers from his fight against these villains. He plans to stop by each school with hero courses, including UA for a longer period of time than the others. This is presumably because of the fact his son, Saleem Fisher, attends UA as a second-year student.- _

He stopped reading, clutching Izuku’s phone like a vice, “Why the hell didn’t he  _ tell _ me? I’m his  _ son _ . I’m his own damn flesh and blood and he didn’t  _ tell me _ what happened to him. What if I had lost him like I lost my mom?!” He was furious until he felt something warm and calming wrap around him and he let his shoulders sink as he let out a pathetic whimper, passing the phone back over to his friend. He sniffled, trying to not cry. “What if I had lost him? What the hell would I do then?”

“We and your other friends would all be here to help and support you.” Ochaco said, her voice quiet.

“We thought you may want to see it because we didn’t hear you mention it or act like you’d heard about what happened…” Tenya watched him hang his head as he unclipped his mask and wiped away his tears furiously at an angle that they couldn’t see.

“That bastard better be ready to explain himself when he shows up.” He whispered, clipping his mask back on and looking up at the three of them when he suddenly had someone rushing to hug him tightly. It was Izuku. It was completely unexpected, but he accepted the hug and buried the nose of his mask in his friend’s shoulder, letting out a long, shaky breath. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” He replied quietly, rubbing circles on his back before pulling away and giving him a tired smile, “Hey, we’ll let you get back to Campbell now-”

“No, the conversation I was having with her was upsetting me… What were you three up to before you came to me? I’d like to join for a bit.”

They all looked between each-other and smiles grew on their faces.

That couldn’t be a good sign.

*       ~ *       ~ *

He’d seen this coming, and yet somehow he was still surprised. He was now sitting in his dimly lit bedroom with the other three as they helped him figure out how he would dress and look for his date that night

“I can’t believe you three had been spying on me and Toru.” He moaned in distress as Ochaco delicately began working his hair. “That’s so uncool.”

“You make it too easy, Sal.” Izuku said as he went through the clothes in Sal’s dresser. 

Sal huffed and smiled a little. After hearing the news about his dad, he’d needed a distraction, and this was perfect. His friends helping him get ready for a date with one of the sweetest girls in his grade. He closed his eyes as Tenya looked over the massive enclosure that sat near his door.

“So, what do you have planned for tonight?”

His eyes flew open in an instant and he looked over at Tenya, “I… I didn’t really think that far.”

“It’s alright!” Ochaco said cheerfully, brushing out a tangle in his hair before proceeding to braid part of his hair, “We can help you with that… Or at least try to.”my fav

“That’s what friends are for!” Izuku held up a pair of red, torn pants. “Are… do all of your pants have holes in them?”

“Yeah. Those are actually my favorite pair, mind tossing them to me?”

Izuku looked at the pants, at Sal, shrugged, and threw them in his direction. Sal caught them easily and looked at them with a quiet sigh.

“I was thinking maybe you could bring some sweets. She likes sweets.” Ochaco said casually, “Maybe some flowers too. Something pink? Hm…”

“I was actually kind of considering showing her what’s under my mask…”

Everyone froze and became silent, looking at Sal. None of them had even gotten a glimpse of what was under his mask yet.

“I- are you sure? You haven’t even shown any of us yet, Sal.” Izuku said cautiously.

“Yes, are you sure this is a good idea?” Tenya nodded slowly in agreement at Izuku’s question.

Sal took a long, deep breath then nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure of this. I want to do this. I really like her, and I want her to know me. I want her to be familiar with me and not feel alienated by the fact I hide my face from her.”

“That’s so sweet.” Ochaco said softly, running her fingers through the hair she hadn’t braided, “But you hide your face from everyone so what difference would it make?”

“I only share my face with the people I love.”

There was another silence, with them all nodding in understanding before Izuku returned to looking for nice clothes for him and Tenya examining Gizmo’s enclosure.

“Is she familiar with your… pet?” Tenya inquired, glancing over to him.

“Oh yeah, Gizmo loves her. Big cuddly scale bag.” He chuckled quietly. “She came in a couple of days ago so I could tutor her for history and he climbed up on the bed and fell asleep right in her lap. It was adorable.”

“I found a shirt, finally!” Izuku triumphantly held up black band tee that had long black and white striped sleeves coming out of the short sleeves. “This isn’t the fanciest, but you don’t seem to have a lot of super nice clothes.”

“Eh, I like my punk-emo aesthetic.” He held out his hands and Izuku tossed it to him before standing up from where he’d been kneeling on the floor. “Hey, my hand mirror is on my vanity table, can you hand it to me?”

Izuku grabbed the silver-handled mirror off the table and walked over, handing it to him. Sal raised the mirror to watch Ochaco work with his hair. She left his two side-strands and bangs alone, but she was making two braids to connect at the back like a sort of crown. Most of his hair stayed down, but the two braids that went around to the back were really nice.

“That looks great so far, Ochaco!”

She blushed and laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck, “Ahaha. It’s not that great.” She reached in her pocket and dug around for a minute before pulling out a hairtie with a marigold on it. She tied the two braids together then brushed out where they connected and then the rest of his hair. “There, that should be good!”

“I can’t thank you guys enough… I really needed this distraction.”

“Of course. If you need anything else, just let us know and we’ll try our best to help.” Tenya said, waving his friends over as he reached for the door.

He nodded and watched them all walk out of the room and shut the door behind them before he began changing his clothes with a small sigh. He peeled out of his stuffy uniform and looked at the clothes Izuku had found for him. He went to pull on his shirt first but the shirt got caught on his prosthetic.

“Shit.”

He tugged and struggled, falling over and groaning in pain. “Shiiit.” He finally managed to get his shirt on over his head, huffing and panting from the struggle. “Fuck, I should have taken this off before I started changing… Now my face is sore.” Reached behind his head and unclipped his mask. He has no idea how Ochaco had managed to work around the clips so perfectly, but she did. None of his hair had even gotten caught.

He takes the mask off reluctantly and looks down at what he knew as his second face. The cracks and chips and all were what made this unique to him and him alone…

He tossed the mask onto his bed and pulled on his pants. He glanced over at the prosthetic on his sheets and walked to the mirror to look at himself. His face still killed him to look at. He didn’t care if it’d been years since he was attacked.

It killed him and hurt his mother and he knew it.

He drew in a deep breath, letting out a shaky sigh before pulling open the drawer of his vanity table and pulling out a surgical face-mask that was normally used for people who were normally sickly. His nasty scars primarily rested from the area from his nose to his chin, so it would be the perfect cover for him. He felt his prosthetic may make his face start to sweat when he gets nervous, and he didn’t want that to happen.

He stretched the small mask over his face and adjusted it so the straps sat comfortably behind his ears and he stared at his reflection once more. Yeah, this was much better. Covering his shame and disgusting features with  _ something _ was better than nothing…

Sal felt something ache deep inside him. He really did like Toru. She was an angel, she was affectionate and friendly, she cared about him but something inside his chest screamed she was the wrong person for him… 

“No, don’t. You know that’s stupid, don’t think that.”

But his brain was right. He knew what was going on. He knew what this was. All those years ago, back when he was being bullied. Back when Larry socked that stupid fucking blond right in the nose… He’d crushed on him since that day and it never truly faded. The feelings never truly went away.

He knew they couldn’t be a thing though. Larry was way too interested in his studies and girls to be into Sal. Larry never showed him any feelings outside of interactions that felt completely platonic. He never showed any genuine interest in romance of any sort. He shouldn’t be thinking about this. He shouldn’t be. He just had to bottle it all up and shove it deep down. Larry would never want someone like him anyways. There would be no point in trying if he even wanted to.

Sal shook his head roughly, gasping his hair as he did and took a loud, deep breath before letting it out. He looked himself in the eye in the mirror with determination. Ignore the stupid thoughts. Ignore them.

“Okay, Fisher. You got this. Toru is a friendly, sweet girl. You like her, she likes you. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

_ “Just be yourself.” _ he heard his mother speak in his ear softly and he teared up. He took in another loud, deep breath, but let it out slowly this time. “Alright… I got this…” 

*       ~ *       ~ *

He’d not realized how cold it would get by the time 5 rolled around, but thankfully Sal had packed a sweatshirt in his messenger bag, which he pulled out and wrapped himself up in. He nervously looked down at his phone, then back up and around. It was only 5:30. He was half an hour early… He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, sitting down on a bench as he started to scroll through his cellphone when he heard footsteps. He turned his head to look towards the sound, spotting Toru. He blinked, looked down at his phone to see it was only 5:36, then back up at her. She was wearing a cute sakura patterned sundress and a white choker necklace. He fumbled to put his phone away and stand up quickly, “Toru!”

“Hello Sal!”

“You look great- I- I um- Sorry I’m not wearing anything super nice like that, I um-”

“It’s alright. Hey, you’re not wearing your prosthetic!”

“Heh, yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck as she got closer. He felt her grasp his hand and entwined their fingers together, “So um… What do you want to do? I brought some snacks and uh, we can just walk around a bit. I mean, if you want to anyways.”

“That sounds great, Sal.”

“G-great.”

He reluctantly began walking down the dimly lit path with his date, a nervous chill running up his back when he felt her lean into him and lay her head on his shoulder. He ran his thumb over the back of her hand and tried to start a conversation but nothing came out of his mouth.

He felt someone warm and welcoming on his other side, giving him the courage to speak. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and finally whispered, “Hey Toru.”

“Yes?” They both stopped in the middle of the walkway and Sal looked down at where he believed her face was.

“I’d like to show you my face. If you were comfortable with that, I mean. I’m not the prettiest guy in the world- like, at all, and the scars are pretty awful… Not even my mom can look at me without something covering them but… I trust you, Toru, and if you’d let me I’d like to show you…”

There was a moment of silence before she whispered, voice choked up with tears, “Oh, Sal, of course, you can show me. I wouldn’t ever see or think of you any differently, regardless of how you look.”

When she said that, Sal felt his entire being melt and he closed his eyes. He hung his head as he reluctantly pulled off the mask that covered half of his face. He wanted to do this. He  _ had _ to show her. He looked down at the blue and white piece of fabric in his hands then reluctantly raised his head. He expected her to react negatively, or to scream and run off back to the dormitory, but she didn’t. He watched as she moved closer and grabbed his face, feeling her fingers run over and graze his scars gently. He felt her getting closer, and closer, noticing the choker around her neck moving towards his level. He felt her breath against his lips and he closed his eyes, ready for her to kiss him.

That didn’t happen though. There was a loud bang from their dormitory and the sound of yelling, and the two of them whipped around to look back in the direction of where they’d come from. Toru was the first to start running towards the noise and Sal followed, dropping the surgical mask.


	5. Turncoat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We get a little glimpse into Larry's POV after the explosion in the class 2-A Dormitory...

Larry’s whole body ached. He groaned in pain as he pushed himself to his feet from in front of where he’d been thrown against a wall. He stood, dazed as his eyes searched the common area of the dormitory. Those who had been in the room and affected by the blast were barely conscious, including Mina, Denki, Eijiro, Momo, and his friend from 2-B, Ashley.

As for his other friend, Katsuki…

He turned his head quickly to look at him. The blond’s eyes were glazed over and his sclera had a pinkish tint. He was being controlled by someone else, and Larry could tell. He could recognize the look in his gaze the instant they locked eyes. Pure, sickening malice

“ _ Lawrence. Where’s your little doll _ ?” He knew Larry’s name. He spoke in fluent English

“Get out of my friend.” Larry said, “Or you might regret it.”

Larry didn’t have anything in his system. He was completely sober and anything that had been left over from when he was high was totally used up after having to calm Katsuki down earlier. He couldn’t just knock the blond out again.

“ _ You can’t do anything to me, kid. Besides, I came here for one thing- and I need you to tell me _ .” Whoever was inside Katsuki raised his hand and prepared to blast Larry, “ _ Where is the little blue-haired brat, Saleem Fisher _ ?”

Larry knew who was doing this in an instant. This guy knew his name, knew Sal’s name, and was speaking complete English…

**Obadiah Phelps - No. 1 American Pro-Hero, Red Eye**

_ Red’s conscious can travel a short distance to possess anyone he pleases, so long as he’s looked them in the eyes. He has full control over the body of whoever he chooses to possess for half an hour or until they are rendered unconscious. _

Why was he here? How did he get here? What did he want with Sal? He’s supposed to be a Pro-Hero! What was he doing-

“Larry!”

The possessed Katsuki whipped around at the voice and grinned when he laid his eyes on the boy he’d come looking for who was accompanied by his invisible friend. He quickly moved his hand to aim at Sal and Larry shouted.

“Sal, look out!” Larry took a running start and tackled the blond, covering his eyes so he shot blindly and missed Sal when he tried to blow him out of the building. “Sal, get out of here-”

“Larry what’s going on here?! What is Kacchan doing?” 

At the sound of Izuku’s voice, Larry’s grip on him loosened and his hands were grabbed. Katsuki took Larry by his wrists, swung him around, then threw him so he smacked against a wall with a violent thud. Larry nearly screamed in pain as he quickly covered the left side of his chest. He was sure he had a broken rib or two now.

That didn’t matter to him in a split second though, because as soon as he looked up. Izuku was struggling to restrain Katsuki, only to be flung in the same manner as Larry. The only difference was that he landed perfectly without being harmed.

Katsuki turned his attention back to Sal, who was rushing to get himself and Toru back out the doors and aimed once more. Larry pushed himself to his feet and ran to shield Sal and Toruas they made it out the door, when he was suddenly hit with one heavy blast. It knocked him back so far he fell outside right as the other two moved out of the way.

Everything went black…

The next Larry knew it, he was waking up in a bed that wasn’t his in a sterile white room. He was in the infirmary. He looked down at blankets on him. He couldn’t quite recall what happened until he placed his hands where his broken ribs had been.

_ Fuck, ouch _ .

He was still pretty damaged but it appeared that he’d been mostly healed. Larry looked around and immediately saw Sal lying in another bed next to his. His eyes flew open wider and he pushed himself out of bed.

_ Ouch, fucking foot too? _

He limped over and looked him over. His face was covered in bandages, and his arm had a splint, but other than that the rest of him appeared unscathed. Larry started to tear up.

Ever since they were young he’d crushed on him. His feelings remained hidden throughout his entire junior high, even after he beat up that bully who had hurt Sal.

So how could he let this happen to him? Ever since middle school, he told himself he would make sure nothing ever would happen to Sal so long as he was there to protect him. Even if he’d be thousands of miles away, he said he would keep him safe. He didn’t care if Sal had barely known him before now.

He’d failed himself, and he had failed Sal. He hadn’t protected him. Sal would never date someone who wouldn’t keep him safe. Who didn’t protect him properly. Larry felt awful. He would never have a chance with his precious little Bluebird…

“I’m sorry, Sally Face…”

“Larry?” He looked at Sal’s face. His one visible eye under the bandages was open and looking at him in confusion, his muffled voice was a little rough. “Dude, what’s wrong? What are  _ you _ sorry for? You fucking saved mine and Toru’s hides back there. You, like… Risked your life for us.”

“I- look at you though!”

“This? Oh, it’s nothing. My arm is healed and so is my face, mostly. I just… Stuck around to rest and make sure you were okay, too. Recovery Girl said one of your ribs nearly punctured a lung.” Larry smiled and felt his heart warm. He stared down at the little blue-haired angel in front of him as he pushed himself up into a sitting position, “Better not start crying on me, Larry Face.”

“‘Larry Face’?”

Sal laughed a little, “Well, you call me by the name that I want people to call me when I’m a pro, and well… You never came up with your own so I just thought I would call you that. Should I not?”

“No, no! I… I uh, really like it.” His forked tongue stuck out as he thought about it. The name sounded like some sort of fanfiction ship name between him and Sal and it was cute. He wanted to keep it. “Would it be alright if I used it for my hero name?”

“Hell yeah! Dude, you, me Ash, and Todd could all be a team! Me, you, and Ash taking to the streets as heroes and Todd helping us with our support items!”

The thought warmed Larry and made his chest bubble with love for the eccentric little disaster he called his friend.

“Maybe we can build up our own agency and stuff. Maybe Toru can join us too.”

The happy feeling sank at the mention of Sal’s crush- the girl that Sal had been out on a sort-of date with before this all happened. He hated to admit it, hated to think that he would feel this way, but he was upset. He was jealous. He didn’t want Toru to have Sal. Larry wanted to have Sal… But really, he knew Sal’s happiness meant more to him than anything so instead of acting upset, Larry just smiled at Sal.

“You must really like her, don’t you?” Larry asked softly.

Sal blinked at him then looked down, embarrassed, “I really do…”

“I’m happy for you, then. Sorry your date was crashed by explody-mcdrama-pants getting possessed.”

“Speaking of which, did you recognize those eyes? Yeah, Bakugo’s eyes are normally red and all, but… The pink around his eyes wasn’t normal. I’ve only ever seen that used by one hero.”

“We went to middle school with-”

“His son.”

They grew quiet. The room felt heavy with both Larry’s pain and Sal’s mention of his junior high bully. The idea that Red Eye could be in Japan scared the shit out of Larry. The man had always intimidated him back when he lived in Oregon, and now with the possibility that the guy was secretly a villain made him all the scarier.

It not only scared him though, but it pissed him off too. It pissed him off that he was after Sal. He was after his little Bluebird. That he’d  _ hurt _ the cute little thing.

_ Nobody would hurt his Bluebird and get away with it. Nobody. _

He took a deep breath and pushed himself to his feet. “If we’re dealing with Red Eye, we gotta tell the staff.”

“You think they’re going to fucking believe us?” Sal sounded hopeless, “Red Eye is an American Pro Hero. He’s top of the billboard in the United States. He-”

“Well, what else are we supposed to do Sal? Just sit around?”

Sal became quiet and looked down at his hands as he balled them into fists.

“You know I’m right, Sal.”

“Yeah. I know. You almost always are. I hate that about you.”

There was a pang of hurt in his heart but he laughed, “Yeah? I bet you do.”

“I hate your stupid face, and your stupid hair. You’re so right all the time, the fucking star student in most classes despite you being the biggest, laziest pothead on the face of the earth. Straight A’s and everything. I hate that you’re so happy-go-lucky all the time and nice to everyone. I hate that you’re my friend. Even now, I hate the very thought of you going to the staff and having them actually believe you.’

Larry felt all that. It really did hurt, and it sounded as though Sal meant it. He turned his head. “You don’t mean that.”

“I hate you, Larry Johnson.” Sal mumbled, not looking at him. “I hate that you’re so good at everything and that you’re friends with everyone. I  _ hate _ you.”

Sal couldn’t look him in the eye. He hadn’t looked him in the eye since after day 1 in their class.

Larry hurt. This hurt. Sal’s words stung like acid on his skin and he pushed himself to his feet. Sal had gone from excited to suddenly upset in less than five minutes of talking to him. Where had all this hatred come from? He didn’t understand.

Larry pushed himself to his feet. “I’m going to talk to Principal Nezu.” He started to limp towards the door when it opened to reveal the Nezu, Recovery Girl, Aizawa, and a fourth person he didn’t quite recognize until he looked the man up and down once. Blue hair and a costume that resembled a bird?

**Henry Fisher - No. 15 Japanese Pro Hero, Night Owl**

_ Night Owl’s Quirk allows him the ability to control the movements and bodies of others by writing it down with his own blood. In order to do so, though, he needs the individual’s DNA, which can be blood, saliva, hair, or anything else he can consume. The effect only lasts for 15 minutes. _

Larry watched him rush past to Sal’s bedside and then turned his attention to Nezu. “Um- Principal Nezu-”

“Johnson, you should be sitting down!” Recovery Girl scolded gently pushing him back so he sat on the bed.

“Ah-!”

Nezu came up closer to Larry and looked him over curiously, “You did a very good job protecting your classmates, Johnson.” He praised, raising his paw up to pat Larry’s leg gently, “What is it that you needed to tell me?”

“Sal- um… Fisher and I know who did this. We know who had Bakugo under control.” He rubbed the back of his neck, watching his furry-faced expression. He glanced over at Sal. Even if Sal hated him, his first instinct was to protect his Bluebird. “And I have reasonable suspicion to believe Fisher was his target…” 

“I don’t need your help!”

“Sal, for once, just listen. I know what was happening.” He didn’t turn his head away from Nezu. “It was Red Eye. The American Pro-Hero himself. He had Bakugo under his full control. Bakugo was speaking fluent, effortless English and was demanding to know where Fisher was even though he should have already known. He tried to kill him, I-”

“I see! Alright, we will definitely be looking into this, Johnson.” Nezu said in an unfazed, cheerful tone. “Are you sure you didn’t just hit your head?” 

“What? No! Why would I?”

He frowned and looked down into his lap.

“Red Eye is Night Owl’s partner.” He heard Aizawa say. “Even if he was a villain,  _ which he is not,  _ he would never hurt Fisher. He loves him too much. This may be an entirely different person who was controlling young Bakugo. Red Eye was with Night Owl  _ all day _ .”

Larry fell silent. Of fucking  _ course _ he was. 

“Regardless, we will still be looking into this, Johnson! I’m sure you have Fisher’s best interests in mind.” Nezu assured, patting Larry’s knee.

He could feel Sal’s eye burning a hole in the back of his head. He knew his friend wasn’t happy with him…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I have a crappy update schedule guys!! Here's chapter 5 for you!! I just watched Two Heroes last night at a party and ohhhh my god I'm living. It gave me the inspiration boost I needed to continue writing for this AU!!


	6. Breached

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: mild violence, death,

Sal felt awful for what he had said to Larry when he woke up. What he’d said right before his father showed up to the infirmary, but it was the only way he could have distanced himself emotionally from him. Even so, Larry still seemed to care and want to protect him. How fucking ironic… 

He wasn’t allowed to participate in class for a day once he’d been allowed out of the infirmary after the incident, and it pissed him off. All the other students were shaken up just as much as him, if not more-so. So why the fuck was  _ he _ being forced to stay behind and do nothing? Why did  _ he  _ have to sit in his stupid dorm room and stare at the wall all day?

It was bullshit…

Not only that but, he was sure Izuku and Larry had seen his fucking face because he dropped the surgical mask when he decided to run back with Toru.

_ Toru _ . Fuck,  _ Toru _ , he’d totally forgotten about her. Was she alright? She wasn’t in the infirmary so she couldn’t have been hurt. He hasn’t gotten a message all day from her, though. Did he fuck up? Was their date ruined? Was-

_ DA-DING! _

He sat up in his bed like lightning and dove for his cellphone, picking it up to look at the text he’d gotten.

_ ‘Hey, wanna try that date again?’ _

His heart soared and a smile came on his face as he teared up, quickly texting back a reply.

‘Yeah, for sure. Wanna just hang out in one of our rooms or out in the commons?’

‘Works for me, <3’

Sal put his phone down and sighed, sinking into the mattress. Even after telling Larry he hated everything about him, he still never really meant it. He still felt that he was going for the wrong person…

Sal took in a deep breath. What the fuck was wrong with him?

* * *

“Sal, are you alright? You seem… super out of it. More than usual.” 

Sal shook his head and turned to look at Toru, blinking a few times to clear his head and focus, “Sorry, I just… I dunno.”

“Is it what happened with your dad?” 

“Nah, I just… I dunno.”

“I see…” She tapped her fingers on the desk. They’d redone their first date already, and at this point, them hanging out became the regular thing- and it didn’t matter really what day it was or when either. They just hung out. It was nice… Although today felt different. 

Sal slumped into the desk they were sitting at, letting his head fall onto the paper in front of him.

“Did you hear about what’s going on with Red Eye?”

“Yeah.” He mumbled. “Larry and I were the first to-

“No, like. Not  _ that _ . He’s officially moving to Japan. America’s number one pro… Crazy, huh?”

Sal’s heart fell to his stomach and he sat up straight in his seat. “O-oh. No, I heard nothing about this.”

“Yeah, and his son is transferring to UA because of it.”

Sal swallowed.  _ Oh, god.  _ He was gonna have to live with seeing Travis’s stupid face every day. He’d never been that fond of him, and after learning his father’s true colors… He didn’t like him even more.

“What about the allegations of him being a villain? I thought-”

“Found false… I’m sorry, Saleem, but you and Larry were totally incorrect. Red Eye isn’t some traitor. He worries about all the students and their safety, especially yours. You should  _ know _ better than to think that.” She rubbed his wrist with her hand, but Sal pulled away.

“Who else has a Quirk like that, though? No one that I’ve seen.”

“Sal-”

“No, Toru! You don’t get it! Nobody ever believes us! Nobody ever has. Nobody Ever will. We’re just fucking stupid kids to everyone apparently. I fucking knew that they wouldn’t believe either me or Larry, regardless of the fact we’re honest, star students in these stupid classes. I know I said I doubted it was him, but Larry was right. The person who had that dumb blond boom boom, bang bang bastard had to have been Red Eye! There’s no other way!” He yanked his mask off, breaking the clips in the process, and slamming it down on the floor of the empty classroom they were in, wiping his tears away furiously as he cried violently. “Fuck- fuck- fuck- that  _ stupid  _ golden boy pothead was right! He was fucking right, and I hate that! I hate it, I hate it! He’s always right! He makes me so angry! I hate him for the fact that he’s always right and how much I agree with everything he has to say! I hate him for the fact that he’s made me love him!” 

Sal froze, tears streaking down his face. He shakily raised his head to look at Toru, who seemed to be staring right at him. She was dead silent until…

“Heh… I really should have guessed… You weren’t dating me just because you like me.” Her tone was disappointed and Sal slowly began to realize how much he messed up. 

“N… no, Toru, that isn’t it.” His voice was hoarse from screaming and now he kept his tone quiet and low. “I- I swear that-”

“Then what is it, Sal? I love you. I really do. Despite your awful mouth and annoying boy habits, I love you… And I know you like me, but that’s all it is for you with me. Like. That’s all you’ve ever said to me. That’s what you told me when we first started dating. That you like me. That you had a crush on me- but your  _ like _ isn’t  _ love _ .” 

“Toru, I…”

“Sal… Admit it. Please. It’ll be better for us both if you just admit it.” She stood up grabbing her things. “And this isn’t me breaking up with you unless you say the words out loud and prove me wrong. If you really want to keep this relationship going, you’ll have to say I love you too… Because otherwise, we can’t keep doing this.”

Sal opened his mouth to say something to her, he wanted to say the words but knew he couldn’t. He knew he didn’t truly feel that way. If he said it he would be lying, and he promised to never lie to her. He… couldn’t say it.

“Thought so…” Toru sighed, “Heh… well, if you need help planning yours and Larry’s future wedding, lemme know… I know you two are better together than you and I anyway…” 

She walked past him briskly, leaving the classroom and letting the door slam shut behind her.

Sal stared off at the wall. He balled his hands up into fists and felt tears fill his eyes more. He let himself be overcome by his emotions and allowed something inside him. He inhaled and let out a wordless, angry scream and sent the desks all flying against the walls of the classroom before falling to his knees and staring down at his now broken prosthetic. Whatever had come in had left just as quickly, and he felt alone.

“Mom?”

Nothing… He hadn’t heard or seen her all day. He normally spoke to her every single morning. She was always there with him. Always beside him.

But she wasn’t now. What was wrong? Where had she gone? What the fuck happened to his mom? He needed her. 

“Mommy?” He whimpered out.

_ Silence. _ His ears rang and he felt his body start to shake. He was alone. He didn’t have her guidance or her comfort. He felt helpless, scared, cornered. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t get it. He didn’t understand why she wasn’t here. Why him? Why  _ now _ ?

He started crying as he shakily picked up his damaged prosthetic and walked to the front of the classroom to the instructor’s desk, taking the scotch tape and shakily piecing it back together and putting it on. He walked back to pick up his things then made his way out of the classroom. The mask barely held together as he sulked all the way to the next class period…

* * *

They had an assembly to get to that day. Assemblies at UA were few and far between, due to the importance of classes. Today was especially important though and had Sal’s father was speaking… Or, well, he was signing and Mr. Yamada was translating for the school. It was uneventful, in Sal’s opinion. He’d heard the speech many, many times back when he was in America with his father. The same old story of what made him become a hero, the struggles of being one, yadda yadda. The entire time, Red Eye stood tall and silent behind him. He was expressionless. That black and purple hero suit of his… Really bothered Sal for some reason. There was just… Something about his whole appearance that set him off.

And that’s when he looked at Sal. He made eye contact- he looked directly at Sal and smiled menacingly. That sent a shiver up his spine and he leaned over to Izuku, “Hey, did you see that?” He whispered.

“See him look at you funny? Yeah. It’s a little creepy…”

Something was very wrong… 

That’s when the intruder alarm began blaring and everyone started to talk amongst themselves and prompted the pros at work to go into high alert mode. Someone was at the school. How though? They’d increased security. They’d-

Sal looked back down at Red Eye who was hiding a smirk.  _ Of course _ .

“Alright everyone! Remain calm!” Mr. Yamada shouted to all the students in the bleachers. “This is not a drill. There are intruders within campus grounds. We need everyone to exit the bleachers in an orderly fashion and find your homeroom teachers! Anyone who is found outside by a homeroom teacher for whatever reason will be following that homeroom teacher instead of their own!”

Izuku and Sal looked between each other, then they both made eye contact with each of their friends…

Except for Larry.

Right… He had told Larry he hated him. So, of course, Larry wasn’t going to look back at him, even if he was with the class.

Wait, where was he?

“Izuku, have you seen Larry?”

“Mr. Aizawa had excused him to use the restroom, remember?”

_ Shit _ .

“Alright- alright. Hopefully, he regroups with us while we evacuate the building.”

Izuku nodded in agreement and everyone all began to get up. Most of them still panicked but others seeming to hold it together as they made their way down to each of their teachers. Mr. Aizawa did a head count silently, glanced over at Mr. Yamada and Mr. Yagi, before leading his class out, Mr. Yagi following close behind.

Aizawa rubbed the back of his neck as he walked. “Saleem, do not forget that you do not have your-”

“Yes, I know. I’m not allowed to do anything except defend myself.” Although, Sal had never been one to be particularly interested in listening to that rule- even at the strict hero school he’d attended in America.

Satisfied with what Sal said, Aizawa continued to lead the way to a spot for the class to hunker down in when-

Mr. Aizawa stopped at a doorway and turned to say something then stopped in his tracks. He pushed the door open behind him and readied himself for a fight, “Everyone, needs to get inside immediately.”

Sal turned his head to look behind them and saw a massive, black-skinned creature. One of the Nomus he’d seen on TV…

The class all did as directed, including Mr. Yagi… But Izuku and Sal were going to have none of this. Larry was probably still out there and Aizawa was in danger.

“This isn’t right, Aizawa shouldn’t fight that Nomu on his own.” Izuku insisted, “I get that we’re just students, but you remember what happened last time!”

Sal did remember. Even if he hadn’t been in class with them, it had been all over the news. “Yeah. If we don’t help him, he may get killed!”

“Young Midoriya, Young Fisher…” Mr. Yagi was watching them both with those piercing blue eyes of his and Sal held that stare for longer than he thought he would. The look of pain and worry was overwhelming, but there was also something deep in those eyes that said “do it”. It was as if he understood what the two of them were thinking… As if he’d been here before.

Sal quickly turned to the rest of the class, “Come on, you guys agree, right?”

“Mr. Aizawa said-”

“I don’t give a  _ shit _ what Mr. Aizawa said.” Most everyone blinked at him, “Our teacher is out there likely getting hurt or killed! We have to help him.”

He quickly turned and ran out the door.

“You’re just as impulsive as Midoriya!” He heard one of the girls shout, followed by footsteps behind him. Sal glanced back, seeing Izuku following close behind him, then Shoto, and…

All of his friends seemed to follow behind him, plus Katsuki, and when they made it out, Aizawa was pinned, being crushed by the massive villain.

“Izuku, you take to his left.”

“What about you?”

“I can get in from behind- Sho- er… Todoroki, you can take his right. The rest of you should- HEY!”

Katsuki had made a running start at the Nomu like a fucking maniac. He went to blow the sucker sky high when it suddenly stood and thwacked him off to the side without any indications that it would move. It was faster than believable.

“Kacchan!” Izuku went to step forward when the blond pushed himself to his feet.

“I’m fine, you damn nerd!”

Sal and Izuku looked between each other and started to go around the Nomu with Shoto.

“Alright we got this! We-”

Sal felt himself freeze mid-step and turn, beginning to walk slowly toward the building they’d evacuated.

This confused everyone, even him. He wasn’t doing this himself. He wasn’t controlling his movements and he couldn’t speak.

“Hey skirt boy! Where the hell are you going?” Bakugo snapped at him.

_ “How about you take my spot to fight the Nomu for me? I have to find my father.” _

That wasn’t Sal, and they all knew it, but Izuku and Shoto were much too preoccupied with saving Aizawa to bother with trying to get Sal back. Instead, Ochaco came running behind him and went to place her hand on Sal’s shoulder when-

She was thrown back. She caught herself with her quirk so she wouldn’t get hurt and looked toward Sal.

“He needs to be stopped-” Tenya went to do the same, but he was thrown back much more violently than Ochaco had been, right before he even touched Sal. Sal wasn’t doing this, he wasn’t. 

This whole thing was a fucking mess.

This whole thing had been set up just to get  _ him _ .

Everything moved so quickly. Red Eye was reading his quirk like an instruction manual. He would know exactly how everything worked and his every weakness without Sal knowing first.

And then he felt he was gonna vomit. Sal suddenly wasn’t walking away from his friends and was now in the building the assembly had been held in. He had full control of his body though, and when he shook the dizziness away he realized what the scene of the room looked like. The bleachers were destroyed, the stand that the staff had been standing on was nothing but rubble, and anyone who had been left in the building…

“Dad!” He yelled, looking around to no avail. His father was deaf now, there was no way he could hear Sal, but he still shouted for him. There were bodies scattered. Most of them had just been hurt, while one was… not so lucky. Sal jumped over the unconscious pros and rushed over to his father. He laid on his back, a massive bar lodged directly through the middle of his chest and blood pooled around him. 

“Dad…” He unclipped the still damaged prosthetic from his face and let it fall to his side and out of his hands. Whatever was left of Sal’s hope sank to the deepest pit of his stomach and he slumped down to bury his face in his father’s shirt, his body shook with violent sobs. 

_ No, no, no, no _ . Two parents in one day. He couldn’t even feel his father’s presence. He’d moved on. He wasn’t there with him. Sal was all alone. Why him,  _ why now _ ? This wasn’t fucking fair. It wasn’t  _ fair _ .

“Dad, no, please, you can’t be.”

But he was…

He was so caught up in his grief he didn’t hear the steps behind him until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Sal whipped around and looked to see it was Larry, who was pretty shaken up himself.

Sal broke down harder at the look on his friend’s face and he watched him sink to his knees beside him. Sal threw his arms around Larry and buried his face in his shirt, practically screaming as he sobbed into his white button up, covering it in his father’s blood.

Larry held him like he would vanish if he let go. He stayed there with Sal until some of the staff returned to find the two of them. Red Eye had wanted Sal to see this. He had wanted sal to see his dead father. He had wanted to  _ hurt _ Sal. 

And Sal was helpless to it all… He couldn’t think of what he could do about this. Nobody would ever believe him… When they took his father away in a body bag, they had to pry Sal off of his corpse. Sal didn’t want them to take his dad. He wanted him to be okay. He wanted him to be here. He needed him still. He needed his guidance and affection, and he would never have that ever again. 

How fucked up the world was to tear both of his parents away in one go… 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the angst this chapter!!! <3 all you out there are awesome!! Thank you so much for your continuous support.


	7. Little Bluebird

The attack at the school had sent most everyone within Japan into a panic. Half of the students were forcefully transferred by their parents to other schools due to worries about safety- and with the UA Sports Festival approaching fast, it was worrisome. How would the school approach it? Yes, the previous school year had a tragedy strike just like that year and the school implemented an intensified security plan, but this year it was amplified. Civilians questioned the school’s safety regardless of what they did to ensure their students were safe… Honestly though? Larry didn’t blame them.

Larry had never thought he’d see the day his Bluebird cried the way he did when he lost his dad. Larry hadn’t left his side since. While students were moved out of the school and transferred, while staff dealt with the media, while they improved and heightened their school security… Larry stuck by Sal’s side during the grieving process- even attended the funeral with him. He never thought he’d have to attend one…

Sal didn’t speak the entire time he was going through the early stages of it, and Larry understood. He didn’t force him to speak or do anything, and Sal was put into the custody of their homeroom teacher, who already had taken on the responsibility of a student from another class.

All Larry wanted, though, was for Sal to know that he was there to support and help as best he could.

Then Travis Phelps was gonna begin school with them and Larry had never seen Sal more frustrated in his life. He’d been dumped right before his father died and now had a class with the kid he hated most, which put so much more stress on him and Larry could see it.

It was shitty, really…

“I can’t fucking believe they actually still think that son of a bitch is a good person and are letting him fucking transfer his son here. Where was he when all the other pros were fighting? Where was he when my dad was murdered?” Sal shook his head violently, “His son’s quirk is useless for hero work, just like his personality is useless as good.”

Larry nodded quietly. It was pretty bad. “Yeah, sorry, Sal… Hey, you need a smoke?”

Sal looked at Larry, then the joint in his hand, and grabbed it from him, lifting his mask slightly to take a long puff. “I never asked, but… Did you see me when I showed up without my mask? Back when Red Eye had Bakugo under his control…”

Larry thought about it and closed his eyes, “If I’m being honest, everything was going so fast, I don’t think anyone saw your face except Katsuki. He’d been the only one to get a good look at you.”

Sal grew silent for a moment and then looked dead straight at Larry, “I’ve been wondering why he’s been so much more fucking respectful to me, so that explains a lot. Although, I don’t quite get it… Todoroki has a scar on his face and Bakugo doesn’t give a shit about him.”

“Well, you almost fucking died that day too- AND you lost your dad, and you were dumped…”

Sal became quiet again and looked away. “Hm… Yeah, you’re right.”

“Not to mention you’re just an absolute badass…” Larry could see the faint movent of his cheeks as he slightly smiled beneath his mask.

“Guys, guys, guys, guys!” Larry turned his head at the sound of Ash’s voice, spotting his friend from 2-B and their other friend from 2-H.

**Todd Morrison**

_ Quirk- Blueprint: Todd’s quirk allows him to come up with the blueprints to create or modify any device in five to ten seconds and build it with intense precision and speed. The drawback of his quirk is that he tends to get severe migraines when he uses it more than 3 times. _

Sal pushed himself to his feet but Larry sat still. He watched his two good friends interact, gently snagging the blunt back out of Sal’s hand and leaning back to watch.

“So, like, did you guys hear about what’s been going on? Did you hear the Sports Festival rumor?” Todd asked, adjusting the goggles atop his head as he flipped through a bunch of papers in his hands.

“Sports Festival rumor?” Sal tilted his head, clearly puzzled.

“Yeah, apparently they had initially been planning to have Bakugo or you lead the student pledge this year, but changed their minds last minute because of what happened. They changed their minds and decided Midoriya should give it this time since he’s the second-best student in your class.”

“I- what?” Sal was shocked to hear the news, and shook his head, “No, there’s no way they’d been considering me to lead the pledge.”

Larry furrowed his brow and stood up, placing his hand on Sal’s shoulder, “Dude, if it wasn’t for the fact that they primarily take physical ability into account for grades, you would totally be in the top three of our class. It’s totally believable.”

Sal stared down at the ground for a short while. “And I’m supposed to be optimistic about this because..?”

The three friends all gave an exasperated sigh, “Nevermind, Sal. Forget it.” Ash waved her hand, before looking him dead in the eye, “Anyways, we overheard you two talking about Bakugo, and wanted to talk to you about something…”

“Well, what is it?” Sal rubbed the back of his neck as he watched the two of them and Larry scuffed his foot on the floor quietly out of boredom. 

“He actually talked to me early this morning, at breakfast actually. It was right after I’d gotten in line, he started going on about wanting to talk to you or whatever.”

“Huh? Since when was Katsuki interested in talking to Sal?” Larry was taken aback, “He’s never mentioned it to any of his friends, not even Eijiro. If he had, I would have heard- I mean, I’m one of those friends!”

“Well, that’s what he was saying!” She turned her attention from Larry back to Sal, “He wanted me to ask if you were up to going to his room tonight to talk to him? And if you wanna be a no-show, that’s just fine, he ‘doesn’t give a shit’.” 

Larry’s heart slowly started to pick up pace as he watched the look in his eyes go from a nervous consideration to an open warmness. Something about that made his blood boil with jealousy, but he kept silent as Sal closed his eyes and gave a quiet chuckle. 

“Alright, well, I’ll probably end up coming to see him then. I just want to make sure he and I are on good terms.”

“Oh, good.” Ash smiled and the two of them turned to leave before she suddenly turned around and looked dead serious at the two of them, “Oh, yeah, and I almost forgot. Red Eye’s kid is finally fully transferred here.” She then turned and walked away. Larry watched their friends go before turning to speak to Sal.

“So, I- Sal?” The blue-haired boy stood stiff as a statue, the life had practically left his eyes as he stared off to where Ash and Todd had walked off. It was as if he was frozen solid. “S-Sal?” He reluctantly reached out to Sal when he suddenly flinched back to life and looked down at his hands then at Larry. He shook his head and bolted down the hall, leaving Larry all alone.

He frowned, concerned for his little Bluebird. “Man… I wonder what’s wrong with him.” He sank down to the floor when he felt something in his left pocket begin vibrating. He took one puff from his blunt and pulled out his cellphone, looking at the caller ID. He jumped to his feet and answered immediately.

“M-mama!”

* * *

Sal paced back and forth in his room, holding his head as he stared at the ground. “You’ve gotta be kidding me..!” He could barely believe it, there was no way what she’d said was true. Travis Phelps attending UA. The one jerkwad he never seemed to be able to get along with in middle school. The kid who was related to that scumbag, Red Eye.

He grabbed his pigtails and yanked them in anger, “Ugh! Why now? He’s gonna make everything so much worse!” He let go of his pigtails and flopped back onto his mattress, unbuckling his prosthetic and rolling over onto his side. “This was supposed to be an escape from all the things that went wrong when I was a kid, but now its been ruined.” He wasnt angry, he wasn’t sad either. Sal was…

Numb. He felt miserable. Like the world had just dropped a heavy weight on his legs and broke them, but the pain hadn’t kicked in yet. It was like looking into a mirror where everything was clear except for himself- which was completely blurry and unrecognizable. 

Sal closed his eyes and yanked the blanket over his head, curling up tightly under the covers. He wanted nothing more than to sleep for a century and never wake up again.

He didn’t get that though. Instead he was rudely awakened by the sound of someone banging on his door. He’d maybe slept for a couple minutes when it started up.

He groaned, “Go away! I’m not in the mood!”

The person behind the banging persisted though, trying for the knob, only to be met with failure. 

“And im not either, Fisher! So open this door or I’m gonna blow it sky high, you little blue stain!”

Sal sat up like lightning. Katsuki? But- theres no way, he was told to just meet up later if he  _ wanted _ to. Then again, is he really surprised?

“I’m gonna break your door!”

That lit a fire under his ass and got him running to the door, unlocking it only to have it swing open immediately and nearly hit him in the face. 

“Shit!”

“Outta my way.” He forced his way him then stopped, looking around, “Huh. I kinda expected something else.”

“Like what?” Sal closed his door and watched him.

He shrugged, “I dunno. I guess I expected something creepy like Tokoyami’s room, but I guess I’m pleasantly surprised. You don’t have a shitty taste in decor.”

Sal glared, “Do you always have to be an asshole?”

Bakugo grinned- something more genuine than he’d ever seen come from him before. He turned on his heel to look down at him, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Actually, I’m not that awful once you get to know me.”

“And I’m supposed to believe that how?” Sal raised his eyebrow at him.

“Well, I mean, I could point things out for you and be helpful. Like the fact that you’re missing that mask of yours-”

“My prosthetic!” Sal turned quickly and looked on his bed, grabbing it quickly to cover his face. 

“Hey, theres no point in hiding your face around me ya know.”

Sal reluctantly lowered it from his face, “I- but…”

“But what? It’s not like I think any less of you for your scars. The only reason I would was if you were Deku.” He turned his head away to look at Gizmo’s enclosure. “Listen, I didn’t come to dick around like a couple of morons. I came to ask you something.”

“What’s that, then?” Sal crossed his arms, prosthetic still in hand. He raised his brow at him, watching his face closely.

“I know Red Eye was the one who was in my head.”

Sal stood up straighter, “You remember-?”

“Yeah, I do, and he was after  _ you _ . Why’s that? Mind telling me?”

Sal swallowed and looked away, “I’m not quite sure… I’m just some frail medium.” Sal rubbed his arm, looking down at the floor.

Katsuki burst into laughter, “Frail? Man, thats fucking  _ rich _ coming from you.” He took a step forward, grabbing his shoulder roughly and not letting go. “If you were frail, my grip would probably end up breaking your damn shoulder. Now listen here, Fisher, I’m not buying any of this bullshit. He’s after you and if you know anything about why, you better fess up now.”

Sal stared up at his scarlet eyes for what seemed like years before he closed his own and took a deep breath, “I’m tellin you, I genuinely have no idea, Bakugo.”

He stared down at him for just a bit longer and then released his shoulder, shoving his hands in his pockets, “Whatever. Anyway, if you think you’re so frail, you and I should spar sometime. No quirks, just you, me, and our physical strength. We’ll really put that claim of yours to the test.”

Sal nodded.

“Oh, yeah, and I still wanna talk to you before bed tonight. It’s important, but not nearly as urgent. Come by any time within the next thirty to fourty minutes.” The blond shrugged.

“Uhm, okay.” Bakugo went to walk out the door and Sal whispered. “I’ll see ya later then.”

Sal slowly sank down onto the mattress and stared down at the prosthetic in his hands when the doorknob twisted and the door swung open lazily.

“Bakugo, what did you- oh. Larry. Hey, why didn’t you knock?” He watched him cross the room all the way over to the window and stared out silently. “Larry?”

“My mom’s condition is getting worse, Sal. I dunno what to do. I was just told she was hospitalized.” Larry whispered. “The sports festival is just days away and I’m worried I won’t get to see her ever again if I decide to stay enrolled here and participate instead of dropping out and staying with her to keep her safe and make sure she’s taken care of.”

He felt a strong pang hit him in his chest violently and Sal held back a gasp of shock from the news before thinking about what he would say. A serious expression crossed his face and he quickly stood up.

“No.”

“What?”

“I said, no! Absolutely not, Larry!”

“Sal?” Larry turned quickly, surprised.

“You’re strong, Larry, and you’re the coolest person I’ve ever met. You’re highly intelligent and you’re one of the best of the best! Don’t you dare for one second consider leaving. I know, it sounds selfish, but if you don’t participate in this, I’ll never forgive you. Yes, your mother is ill, but she’s the whole reason you enrolled at UA, isn’t she? Don’t you think she wants you to succeed and become a pro? You would be throwing away a huge opportunity to show yourself and practically scream ‘I am here’ if you decided to not participate!” Sal hadn’t realized it, but he was beginning to tear up. “Yes, these days are getting tougher and tougher to deal with, and yes your mother is sick, but you know how much this means to the both of you! If you were to throw this away, I could never forgive you because you’d be giving up your chance at a good life, at making the world a better place! So go ahead, Larry. Look at me again. Look me in the eye and tell me you’re gonna drop out.”

Larry was dumbfounded, blinking wordlessly at his friend. “Sal… I had no idea that was how you felt. I’m so sorry…” He ducked his head and looked at the floor. “I guess I’ve just… started to believe that I’m no good and just better off taking care of other people.”

“Larry.” Sal walked over, grabbing his face, “You’re awesome, man, and you’re gonna be a phenomenal hero… Never forget that.”

Larry was holding back his own tears and he quickly wrapped his friend in a tight bear hug, “Thank you so much, Sally Face, man.”

“Of course, Larry… If you ever need a friend to help you like this again, please let me know… Because I will help without hesitation.” Sal let go of him and gestured for the door, “Although, I do need to get ready for bed and swing by Bakugo’s room before I sleep.”

Larry nodded and went to leave before he stopped suddenly, “Sal?”

“Yeah?” 

He paused. Sal wasn’t quite sure why or what was up when he continued, “You’re a great friend.” He then left Sal alone in his room. Sal took a deep breath and fell back on his mattress, looking up at the ceiling. He just wanted to take a short break from people, but he had to change into his pajamas.

He rolled over and looked towards his dresser. “Hey, can you pick out my clothes for the night for me?” The drawer opened and a few articles of clothing came floating over to him then dropped on his head. “Thanks.” He sat up and started changing into the clothes that had been chosen for him. He had no idea who had grabbed it for him, but he appreciated it regardless.

He looked back out towards the window, thoughts rushing through his head. His own mother and father had inspired and pushed him to this dream of his he now had to become a hero. All he wanted was to be a good person and help people… He wanted to make the world a happy place for kids because he never got that happy place growing up.

Sal took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his neck. He hoped that all this shit he was doing in the middle of grieving was a good idea…

But then again, when has he ever had a good idea?

* * *

“So, what did Bakugo want to talk to you about last night?” Ash elbowed her friend, and Sal looked up at her. “He didn’t give you a hard time or nothing, did he?”

“Oh! Uh, no, he actually… Wanted to help me out.” Sal didn’t say much after that. He didn’t really wanna talk too much about how Katsuki had acted, because he genuinely liked the friendship growing between the two of them and didn’t want to ruin it by telling people how sweet of a guy he could be. 

Sal leaned over his food and stared down at it quietly, humming softly in thought, a small smile on his face that no one could see. The guy seemed to genuinely respect and understand Sal. He took the time to listen to him and really hear what he has to say.

“Hey, is this seat taken?”

Sal practically jumped out of his skin. No, that voice… There was no way…

He slowly turned his head. His good eye gazed at a chest adorned with a purple tie and slowly raised it to look at the kid’s face. Blond hair framed an olive-toned face with two deep red eyes. He recognized him almost immediately.

“T-Travis?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since I updated, but I'm glad I've finally gotten to it! I'm so sorry it took me this long!


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